Broward high school teacher suspended for ‘little chocolate boy’ comment

Broward high school teacher suspended for ‘little chocolate boy’ comment


A Blanche Ely High School teacher has been suspended for a week without pay and ordered to attend diversity sensitivity training — punishment for calling a black student a “little chocolate boy” in front of a full classroom.

The school district’s discipline comes more than a year after teacher Leslie Rainer was accused of making the comments. That delay was due to Rainer fighting any potential discipline in court. One of Rainer’s key legal defenses was her own race: as an African-American, Rainer argued that it was merely friendly banter for her to call another black person “chocolate.”

“It’s not a slur, it’s not in any way racist,” Rainer’s attorney, Robert McKee, told School Board members on Monday.

Court documents identify the student as being of both African-American and Caribbean descent. Reached by phone, the student’s grandmother on Monday said the boy’s father hails from the tiny island nation of Dominica. The woman said that her grandson was troubled by the teacher’s “chocolate” comments.

http://www.miamiherald.com/2013/03/11/3279677/broward-high-school-teacher-suspended.html