Trial by Jury: The Case of the N-word

Courtney Perrett
cp160517@ohio.edu

I attended Trial by Jury: The Case of the N-word hosted by Kyle D. Bowser. The trial was Robinson vs. The Pennybaker Preparatory School. The Robinson's nine-old-old daughter, Tiffany Robinson, came home from school one day having been taught the N-word in a lesson about the civil rights movement during Black History Month. The Robinson's were upset that her teacher, Ms Cunningham, had taken the liberty of teaching her 4th grade students this word without their knowledge or consent. The jury had to deliberate on whether the school had failed in their duty to care for Tiffany, when it deliberately chose to incorporate the use of the N-word into its 4th grade curriculum without parental consent.

The case was argued in court and both sides presented strong cases. The plaintiff (the Robinsons) argued that the school was negligent when it gave Ms Cunningham the authority to teach such young students about the history of a word used to harm, diminish and dehumanize people of African-American descent. The defense argued that the N-word has been widely appropriated, for example, in pop-culture, hip-hop music and in movies. They suggested that because the word has even been used as a term of endearment among the African-American community, that it has lost the hurtful power it once had and that Tiffany was not directly harmed by the mention of the word.

Photo credit: Courtney Perrett. Taken at the Athena Cinema in Athens, Ohio.

While, I don't believe that the N-word still carries the same power that it used to, it is still a significant part of black history. I think it's important to think about the history of the word and the context when it was used. The N-word was used to describe slaves in the 17th century. While the word may have been appropriated by the youth in an attempt to make it colloquial, it doesn't change that it was used to stigmatize and harm people of color.

In saying this, I accept that Ms Cunningham was trying to educate her 4th grade class about the history and socio-cultural context in which the N-word was once used. However, I'm not sure that she was ethically justified in making this decision without the permission of her students' parents. I think it was unethical of the school to not involve the parents of the students in, at least, a conversation before engaging the students in an extremely controversial and upsetting subject at a young age.

I think that in this situation, the most important thing to do is understand the history and context of the N-word and respect the struggles of the community that was prejudiced because of this label. Personally, I think it's unethical and disrespectful to use this word, simply because I think its history is too turbulent and filled with hate to use the term casually without causing offense. I respect that Ms Cunningham was trying to get ahead of the social scene by teaching her 4th grade students about where the term came from and why it is dangerous, however, I don't think that she made an ethical decision in not asking for permission first.