A daycare temporarily closed down, fired a teacher and apologized to parents after a Black History Month lesson went horribly wrong.
ICKids, a Montessori school in Newton, Massachusetts saw a lot of parent and community outrage after it was discovered a teacher had toddlers make masks of blackface.
After a parent brought the situation to light, many more complained to the school, who shut down over fears of protests.
The incident took place last week.
The pre-school teacher took the children through a project where they made blackface masks.
When one mother, Nadirah Pierce, found out, she pulled her children from the school.
She told local news NBC10 Boston:
“This is unacceptable and don't really understand the concept of this project.”
Blackface is a highly offensive practice where people of non-African descent use makeup to portray a Black person. The masks the children made were part of a lesson for Black History Month.
When Pierce initially picked up her kids, she saw they were covered in black paint. She didn’t think much of it until the school posted photos of the activity online.
Then everyone knew what the black paint was for.
The school posted an apology on their Facebook profile saying:
“To all who are offended, we sincerely apologize for what happened with one of our classroom activities: black face. Our intention was to celebrate Black History Month.”
“Unfortunately we didn’t do enough research on black history and carried out a wrong activity. We are sorry about it and we mean it!”
How could this have happened in the first place?
Man, the cork is really out of racism bottle right now.https://www.rawstory.com/blackface-school-massachusetts/\u00a0\u2026— Darick (@Darick) 1645035385
So many white people are racing backwards as fast as they can. I DO NOT GET IT. \n\nSchool shuts down after teacher tells toddlers to wear blackface masks for Black History Monthhttps://www.rawstory.com/blackface-school-massachusetts/\u00a0\u2026— America Jane, Leftist Maniac! (@America Jane, Leftist Maniac!) 1645038935
She knew better than to do this! But she didn't care People! The School been letting her get away with these Nefarious Practices since she been there.The only problem is she got caught! Just Think about Do you think Black History Month just started in 2022!https://twitter.com/TexasFBA4Ever/status/1493630703203934211\u00a0\u2026— Tweety Montgomery (@Tweety Montgomery) 1644966603
Where's the outrage from the right This teacher offended her students isn't that a big no-no and the right wing e ticket Crazy Town universe\nSchool shuts down after teacher tells toddlers to wear blackface masks for Black History Monthhttps://www.rawstory.com/blackface-school-massachusetts/\u00a0\u2026— Jon Westergren (@Jon Westergren) 1645036383
The woman couldn\u2019t have just have them color portraits of people and talk about them? Lord have mercy\u2026— Glenda, Good Witch of North Texas (@Glenda, Good Witch of North Texas) 1644952345
Wow. And I bet that\u2019s a $30k/year daycare being Montessori in Newton.— Dan Moffat (@Dan Moffat) 1644979828
Many commenters were quick to point out what was posted on Facebook wasn’t an apology or accountability for what went wrong. After this, the school deleted their Facebook profile.
Soon after, the school shut down with a notice on their door explaining that the “Facebook apology was not the best statement...” They claimed they had to shut down over security concerns that may come from protesting parents.
However, the protests never happened.
Initially, the teacher who planned the activity was just reprimanded, but after continued outrage from parents, the door notice updated this situation to say they had been fired.
The school also said that if they reopen, all staff will be made to go through diversity training,
The whole situation was unsurprising to many.
We live in an age of hateful idiots. When you're a racist pos, all common sense goes out the window. A normal person has an idiotic idea and reasons against. These folks have no brake, no little voice to say "Stop! This is hurtful"\nZERO EMPATHY for babieshttps://www.rawstory.com/blackface-school-massachusetts/\u00a0\u2026— Ruth a Johnston\ud83d\udc89\ud83d\ude37 (@Ruth a Johnston\ud83d\udc89\ud83d\ude37) 1645035212
Like did she not Google a single other case of blackface or— Monobob Dylan (@Monobob Dylan) 1644979931
The teacher will be transferred.— Matthew Lewis \ud83c\uddfa\ud83c\uddf8\u270a\ud83c\udffe\ud83d\ude4f\ud83c\udffe\ud83d\udd47\u2764\ud83d\udc9a\ud83d\udda4\ud83c\udfcb\ud83c\udffe (@Matthew Lewis \ud83c\uddfa\ud83c\uddf8\u270a\ud83c\udffe\ud83d\ude4f\ud83c\udffe\ud83d\udd47\u2764\ud83d\udc9a\ud83d\udda4\ud83c\udfcb\ud83c\udffe) 1644966401
you'd think that that whyte people would know to NOT do this during bhm specifically— a Sul'dal (@a Sul'dal) 1645019558
In Newton in 2022. I expect this kind of garbage in certain southern states. I hope people lose their careers.— Joe Killion (@Joe Killion) 1645025704
It's a preschool!!! shouldn't they be learning to play with blocks and sharing? WTF— MrGreenJeans (@MrGreenJeans) 1644933713
While blackface seems like an archaic practice that should have gone extinct a long time ago, it continues to crop up.
Just a few months ago, a Virginia councilman shared a Halloween costume in blackface.
While the councilman removed the photos of the costume, he attempted to defend himself and showed little remorse.
Jane Rosenberg
Jane Rosenberg
@arianagrande/Instagram
@arianagrande/Instagram