Posted on 11/18/2002 10:57:58 AM PST by marshmallow
Deja vu all over again.
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Evidently these parents believe that lawsuits are just another form of state lottery and should not be taken personally by the people whose money they want lawyers to steal for them.
Florida was the case of the dude who wanted to wear a dress to the prom. LOL
I'm getting my schools and scandals confused.
If this 'theorey' is so wrong, and people may be sued for using this classification; why do companies ask me to fill a form out (voluntarily, right??) stating my race as being either Caucasian, Asian, Black, Hispanic or Other?
Besides, wasn't the teacher demonstrating a FACT? Saying that Mary appears Asian, Jeff looks Caucasian, Jamahl may be Arabic and Ken is likely Negroid is not an insult. It's observable fact.
Main Entry: ne·groid
Pronunciation: 'nE-"groid
Function: adjective
Usage: often capitalized
Date: 1859
: of, resembling, related to, or characteristic of the Negro race
- negroid noun, often capitalized
Sounds like a perfectly legitimate descriptor of the child, given his parentage.
This is one of those Frivolous Law Suits a proper judge would and should throw out of court. Mr. and Mrs. Hurshman owe both school and teacher an apology. I am so sorry for their son as he is who he is and what he is and rather than run from it, should be made proud of it. The parents are the ones harming the boy.
In the 18th and 19th century, European anthropologists used "Negroid" as part of a system of human racial classification.
The term comes from the theory that races developed in certain regions of the world. That theory said "Caucasoids" were from Europeans, "Mongoloids" from Asia and "Negroids" from Africa, south of the Sahara Desert. Nick said he usually checks "other" when filling out information about his race because he doesn't consider himself either black or white.
"I'm tan," he said.
Someone needs to explain to the family that both of these designations are correct. In reference to the historical "Negroid", the teacher was giving the correct information. However, the boy is correct in saying that he is "tan", as "black" and "white" are misnomers when applied to skin color. My 5 year old bi-racial son has also stated that he's "tan" and it seems obvious to him and everyone else in the family that this is correct. I don't belive the teacher used good judgement in pointing out any pupil as an example. However, an apology from the teacher seems the appropriate response. The other families are right in distancing themselves from this family in light of the obvious attempt to strike it rich with the lawsuit. Kind of makes you wonder what they would want to do if their son had been called a "mulatto"?
I remember some blacks made a big fuss when someone in the U.S. government used the word "niggardly" in a budget document, as I recall. These folks should lighten up and invest in a dictionary.
I think I have a very small amount of native american blood in me. Does that mean I can live tax free and leech money off of taxpayers too? My skin is white, but I am a mixture of Swedish, German, English and who-knows-what-else. Funny... I just consider myself to be an American. When is being a plain old American going to pay off for me? Though I feel sorry this young man was reportedly offended and "hurt" by his misunderstanding of the word and the label applied to him, this is another case of people being too darned sensitive for their own good. They all need to get over it and move on.
I believe everything would have been fine had the parents had a talk with the teacher, a talk with their son, and settled the misunderstanding. Instead, they chose to make this a huge issue which probably hurt their son more than the teacher's remark.
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