Several videos of a teacher from Riverside, California have been posted on social media, exposing her for pretending to be an Indigenous person and mimicking Native practices.
The teacher from John W. North high school, Candice Reed, was giving a math lesson on SOH CAH TOA, a mnemonic to remember the trigonometric functions sine, cosine and tangent.
When Reed pulled out a "fake feather headdress" and began "war hooping & tomahawk chopping," an Indigenous student began filming her offensive mimicking.
That student "has a Native first name and outwardly identifies as Native American" according to the Instagram posts that have been re-shared widely, as well as across Twitter.
The caption said:
"At first the student noticed the teacher was pulling out a fake feather headdress and when she put it on he thought, 'What is she going to do?'"
"I am sharing this video because these behaviors can no longer be swept under the rug!"
"As adults, we must stand up for our youth! Please help us in getting the word out and SHARE!"
The caption continued:
"We need to end abuse & discrimination against Indigenous youth in schools!"
"There is no excuse for this type of behavior."
"We're not in the 1960s anymore, she should know better."
Other accounts with large followings have shared the video like actor Eugene Brave Rock (@genebraverock), the Lakota People's Law Project (@lakotalaw) and Indigenous Peoples Movement (@indigenouspeoplesmovement).
The caption also asked for followers to call or email the principal, Jodi Gonzales, the superintendent Renee Hill, the deputy superintendent Tim Walker and the assistant superintendent Dr. Ryan Lewis.
Many are sharing the video to Twitter and wondering why she needed a racist display mocking Indigenous culture to help students remember the lesson.
What is sohcahtoa? A little rhyme to remember sine, cosine and tangent in trigonometry. OK.\nBut why did teacher Candice Reed in Riverside CA think this performance was ok?https://twitter.com/DrBWillingham/status/1450984002802917376\u00a0\u2026— Margaret Kimberley (@Margaret Kimberley) 1634821667
so many teachers teach sohcahtoa by being offensive towards indigenous people?????? my teachers literally just wrote it on the board and were like yeah use this and I remembered it because I thought of squidward saying krakatoa in spongebobpic.twitter.com/w8ysUvvfAz— paige (@paige) 1634794740
There are SO MANY better ways to teach SOHCAHTOA. This is NOT one of them. This is racist and absolutely unacceptable.https://twitter.com/urbaninuk/status/1450989276557025280\u00a0\u2026— Will \u201cIowa is #WorthTheWork\u201d Dutchuk (@Will \u201cIowa is #WorthTheWork\u201d Dutchuk) 1634786998
You don't need to do several minutes of racist foolery to remember SOHCAHTOA. It's already memorablehttps://twitter.com/UrbanInuk/status/1450989276557025280\u00a0\u2026— Dr. Keisha Josephs (@Dr. Keisha Josephs) 1634788967
All that to teach a class SohCahToa? SohCahToa is like the only thing I remember from HS, and the teacher didn\u2019t disrespect or mock our indigenous ancestors to get me to remember it.— Josh (@Josh) 1634779422
The worst thing is the teacher probably didn\u2019t even think this was disrespectful or offensive. Completely oblivious as the kids watch, aghast and alarmed. Oblivious, as she grew up in a cultural bubble— Dangerously Talented (@Dangerously Talented) 1634781051
this is just sickening to watch. good on that student, im sure that wasn\u2019t easy to do when marginalized students face so much backlash for blowing the whistle on racism in school— katherine \ud83c\udff3\ufe0f\u200d\ud83c\udf08\u267f\ufe0f (@katherine \ud83c\udff3\ufe0f\u200d\ud83c\udf08\u267f\ufe0f) 1634779803
I went down a rabbit hole of racism with the SOHCAHTOA "legends." There are so many slide decks and pdf handouts around. I taught math for over 15 years and had somehow avoided this particular story. This is what we mean with racism in the curriculum. Our students deserve better.— Sof\u00eda De Jes\u00fas (@Sof\u00eda De Jes\u00fas) 1634820867
i thought sohcahtoa was just mnemonic? i never even associated with anything native is it inherently racist?https://twitter.com/idil_a_/status/1451000907370483715\u00a0\u2026— \u0632\u0627\u0631\u0627 \u262d (@\u0632\u0627\u0631\u0627 \u262d) 1634828044
From now on I'm telling everyone I'm from the SohCahToa tribe just to see how many Non-Natives tell me their great great grandmother was a SohCahToa princess.— Frances Danger (@Frances Danger) 1634798302
In my first trigonometry class my teacher looked at me and said "Until now I've taught it by saying sohcahtoa sounds like japanese, but i should stop doing that and think of another way to teach it!".\n\nMeanwhile, in America... \n\nblows my mind that a teacher can think this is okayhttps://twitter.com/UrbanInuk/status/1450989276557025280\u00a0\u2026— Shintaro Fushida-Hardy \ud83e\udd8e (@Shintaro Fushida-Hardy \ud83e\udd8e) 1634783622
SOHCAHTOA is literally the EASIEST thing to remember from school and none of my teachers had to come and disrespect peoples cultures for us to remember it. They just want any excuse to be racist.https://twitter.com/urbaninuk/status/1450989276557025280\u00a0\u2026— \u2728Mama Africa\u2728 (@\u2728Mama Africa\u2728) 1634817211
Riverside Unified School District has released a statement about the teacher.
It said:
"A recording of one of our teachers has been widely circulated on social media."
"These behaviors are completely unacceptable and an offensive depiction of the vast and expansive Native American cultures and practices."
"Her actions do not represent the values of our district. The teacher has been placed on leave while the District conducts an investigation."
"The Riverside Unified School District values diversity, equity and inclusion, and does not condone behavior against these values."
"We are deeply committed to implementing inclusive practices and policies that honor the rich diversity of our district and the greater region."
"We will be working with our students, families, staff and community to regain your trust."
The districts Board of Education has a meeting tonight at 4:00.
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