A mother says she is furious with her son’s teacher and school district after her Black son received a “Monkey Award” along with an award for completing preschool.
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Shemekia Ellis said her son Braylen came home with the award from Batesville Elementary School and noted that the South Panola School District claimed his teacher didn’t know about the racist implications of comparing Black people to monkeys. “I’m still not happy about it. I’m angry because I don’t understand why my son got the monkey award when he received an award that he had completed Pre-K. He was excited about the award but he had no idea what he was holding. So, you know, it’s unacceptable to me,” she explained to WMC.
Batesville Elementary principal Amy Sutton claims Braylen was given the award for “being energetic” but Ellis says the award mentions nothing about energy but “keeping others entertained” instead. Sutton, who is also Black, explained that the school leadership team reportedly ignored warnings about handing out awards that were “offensive.”
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School administration claims future award ceremonies will not have this issue again but Ellis says she has yet to receive an apology for the award.
“She stated that she had a meeting with them and she stated that they were not to pass out any awards that would be offensive or raise a red flag but they did it anyway. These teachers have messed up. They was wrong. The superintendent knew they was wrong, the principal knew they was wrong. So, they need to be held accountable for what they have done.”
Ellis’ story made its rounds on social media and one Twitter user says Batesville, Miss. has a history of racism as of this year.
This sh*t never stops. And no excuses. It’s 2022. And this was Mississippi. They knew. https://t.co/e9NB8LptP7
— Portia Pro-Choice McGonagal (@PortiaMcGonagal) June 2, 2022
Another user said a different type of award could’ve been handed out without comparing children to animals due to the insensitive nature of the award.
This sh*t never stops. And no excuses. It’s 2022. And this was Mississippi. They knew. https://t.co/e9NB8LptP7
— Portia Pro-Choice McGonagal (@PortiaMcGonagal) June 2, 2022
Others had mixed feelings about the award saying there weren’t any racist implications surrounding the award and could’ve meant that the child liked to play around in the classroom. Some users also felt that the phrase “monkeying around” has been used to describe a child or children who joke in school in their classroom.
I actually get what the teacher meant. She was indirectly saying “Your kid is bad as hell and is always clowning in my room.” The teacher shouldn’t have said the monkey award, but this one is blown out of proportion to me.
And yes, I know the connotation behind monkey. https://t.co/dzejdAdA2i
— LaKeadra Coffey (@ByLaKeadraC) June 2, 2022
I had a kindergarten teacher who would call us monkeys if we misbehaved, so I get it. But still definitely not a good look in this case.
— Ashton Pittman (@ashtonpittman) June 2, 2022