School teaches about slavery by binding Black children

Over my 40 years I heard of many things teachers have done to teach kids. Some are great ideas, some are bad, and occasionally some create unexpected results like The Wave. But I am still trying to learn what gave a teacher the thought that binding Black children to explain slavery was a good idea.

The teacher was of course White. I say that because only someone who has no direct attachment to the concept of slavery would be so oblivious to the social and personal impact such an act would create. That does not mean the teacher is racist or mean-spirited. I only mean to say they had no idea what this action would mean.

This happened in a 7th grade class, in Haverstraw Middle School, to 2 Black girls about the age of 13. The girls were singled out, but were not the only Black children in the class, had their hands and feet bound with tape, and then told to crawl under a desk to simulate being shipped as slaves across the sea.

There are too many problems with this.

First why couldn't a mix of children be used for this example? Why not a couple of White kids? Why did they have to be Black.

What teacher has a right to bind any child? I doubt there is any reason for such an action. And if the children were white I imagine an outrage among the community that would have reached the airwaves - which this did not.

Once bound why did the children need to be further humiliated by being made to crawl. That could easily be seen as humiliating even without bound hands and feet. Adding to that is the exclusion that occured. Why didn't the teacher give every child a chance to crawl so they all understood it from both views?

And of course there is nothing happening over this. The teacher still has a job and was teaching class. The Superintendent is brushing this off as a class exercise that went wrong - only because one of the girls became upset. And the major media has yet to cover this as far as I have seen.

This happened on November 18th, reported on Friday. A google search barely shows the media, or internet, having paid any attention. It's being ignored and forgotten by the media as I speak. But just imagine if this were 2 White girls and a Black teacher. Imagine the attention then.

The NAACP and one of the girls mothers are outraged. They have asked for action. The teacher has apoligized because one of the girls was upset, not for the actions taken. And I have to ask what if it was your kid?

Maybe when a teacher decides to help kids learn about the Holocaust by asking a couple of Jewish kids to come to the front of the class so they can have numbers written on them in pen and then kneel in a corner of the room facing a wall as eraser chalk is poured on them someone will notice. And the excuse that this is a lesson about the death chambers will be useless, and the entire event will be seen for the tasteless crass insult that this was. Or maybe it will be Asian children and the intenment camps in America. Or Native Indians about how the troops infected them with diseases. And on and on.

Maybe then we will see a reaction that matches the actions. Because the reation in that community now is that

"Parents said they were aware of the incident but few wanted to talk about it."

Sounds just like the national position on slavery in general. And it pisses me off.

If you would like to let Haverstraw Middle School hear your thoughts about this event, this insult, I have found the contact information. You can reach the school at

Haverstraw Middle School , 16 Grant Street , Haverstraw, NY 10927
Phone: 845-942-3400 | Fax: 845-942-3403

The teacher is Eileen Bernstein.