Teacher Makes Racist Comments To Latino Students

2024 Author: Steven Freeman | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 08:15

A video shared on social media in which a New Jersey teacher is heard making comments that have been branded as racist has sparked controversy among the Cliffside Park high school community.

The images recorded by one of the students show the educator Laura Amico having an exchange of words with her students, to whom she says: "Men and women fight not for your right to speak Spanish, they fight for your right to speak American (English)".

The comment immediately generated a reaction of protest from the students, causing some of them to stand up and leave the class in complete disgust. The teacher apparently said the controversial words after calling attention to some of the young people for speaking in Spanish during class.

"I think it was very disrespectful because I am Hispanic and that is not right," said one student, speaking for the PIX11 channel, adding that in her report that a large part of the students who attend the school in question come from Latino families, therefore many of them speak in English and Spanish.

As another young woman added, it is not the first time that the teacher has been involved in situations in which she represses her pupils for speaking another language. "If she hears us speak Spanish in the hallway, she will catch our attention," she said.

As signs of protest at what happened, the students have chosen to carry flags from their countries of origin and at the same time they have decided to withdraw from the classrooms en masse. School officials and educational authorities in Bergen County, New Jersey have yet to comment on whether there will be any action against the teacher.