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By Alex Johnson
The headmaster of a Virginia suburban primary school in Washington State apologized for a gym exercise in which students were to act as fugitive slaves for the month of black history.
"The lesson was culturally insensitive to our students and our families, and I offer my sincerest apologies to our students and the school community," said David Stewart, principal of Madison & # 39; s Trust Elementary School. in Ashburn, Virginia, in a letter to parents dated February 12th. obtained by NBC Washington.
The incident is particularly noticeable for Virginia, whose governor, Ralph Northam, apologized after revealing that a racist photo appeared on his page of his 1984 medical yearbook, which included men dressed in blackface and Ku Klux Klan dresses. Northam refused bipartite calls for resignation.
The newspaper Loudoun Times-Mirror, which for the first time published Thursday the Madison & # 39; s Trust exercise, stated that students in grades three to five had received a "game." "in which groups attacked an obstacle course intended to represent the Underground Railroad. , the network of secret routes that slaves used to escape from free states and Canada during the 19th century.
At a school council meeting last week, Michelle Thomas, president of the Loudoun County Chapter of the NAACP, told the council to have learned about the existence of the exercise. last month in a letter stating that students had the choice to be a slave, a sharecropper or a landowner.
But "slavery was not a joke," she said. "You did not have to choose."
Thomas said that children "do not need to relive slavery, we have done enough, we have paid enough."
She repeated, "You had children playing slaves on the run," telling the school board, "You must run away.
Linda Deans, a retired educator, told council: "Having a black student crawling on the ground in the dark while he is reproducing a lesson about a fleeing slave is an offensive educational strategy."
"Corrective action is needed now, not next year," said Deans.
Stewart, the director, said in his letter to parents that "this incident has revealed the need for us to further explore how we can ensure that this does not happen again."
He stated that the material taught during the exercise would be presented in a different way "to ensure that all students fully understand the content, in an appropriate and respectful context".
He also said that he would appoint a "team responsible for equity and culture", details that he did not provide.
Thomas told NBC Washington Thursday that she was "pleased with the progress we are making".
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