[Global Times Comprehensive Report] NBC reported on the 13th that a school in the Hollywood district of Los Angeles was accused of "racial discrimination" because the school had a cotton field and arranged for students to "experience the life of black slaves."
According to the report, a black mother named Rashuda Pitz had previously discovered that there was a cotton field in her daughter’s school. She asked the teacher about this. In the autobiography of movement leader Frederick Douglass, students experience slave life by picking cotton.
Pitts was puzzled by the school's practice, and her daughter later told her that picking cotton had left her feeling "depressed" and "uncontrollable anxiety."
The daughter said that although the teacher did not force the students to go to the field to pick cotton, she felt uncomfortable watching other students picking cotton.
On the 10th of this month, Pitts sued her daughter's school and the Los Angeles Unified School District Board of Education (LAUSD) in Los Angeles Superior Court.
The complaint alleges that the school's so-called "cotton picking teaching project" caused the minor children to experience emotional distress, so the school is required to compensate.
She also said in court documents that her daughter was initially reluctant to discuss cotton picking at school for fear of "retaliation from the teacher".
In addition, the school did not obtain parental consent before offering relevant courses.
The LAUSD said in a statement that it "regrets the lack of cultural sensitivity of this teaching activity" and that the cotton field has now been uprooted.
However, Pitts was not satisfied with the school's response, believing that he knew he was acting inappropriately, but deliberately covered up "discriminatory behavior."
In this regard, some netizens believe that the school's approach is really ill-considered, and some people think that Pitts "makes a big fuss".
(Zhen Xiang)