Hurting Children, Hurting Ourselves

Sometimes as black people in America, we focus so much on the enemy outside that we fail to focus on the enemy inside. As a result we can end up damaging each other to the point where the most innocent among us end up hurt and broken.

Cathy Wright and her teenage daughter, Shaniaya Hunter, are taking legal action against Green County High School in Greenboro, Georgia following a reportedly traumatic interaction between Hunter and one of her teachers.

Last December, Hunter, a junior, began recording audio during class using a school-issued iPad, capturing what she says is the voice of her history teacher lobbing a number of abusive insults at her in front of other students.

https://m.soundcloud.com/user-374496507/shaniaya-hunter

"I have been around for 37 years and clearly, you are the dumbest girl that I have ever met,” the Hunter allegedly said after being asked who Sojourner Truth was. “You know what your purpose going to be? To have sex and have children, because you ain’t gonna never be smart.”

Hunter, who has a chronic eye condition that sometimes makes it difficult for her to see, was using the iPad to help her work through the day’s lesson.

She says that as awful as the teachers remarks were, they weren’t at all out of the ordinary for him, but she’s the only student willing to come forward with her story.

“It really hurt me inside,” she said before breaking down in tears. “I don’t think it’s OK. I don’t think he should be here.”

When Hunter’s mother heard the recording, she immediately got in contact with officials from the high school inquiring as to whether the teacher would be reprimanded. When the school stonewalled her, she contacted local attorney Ben Windham, who agreed to represent her and her daughter pro bono.

“This man does not need to be teaching young children,” Windham told WSB-TV. “It’s not a gray area. End of story.”

PR