A US mum has accused her son’s school teacher of being “racist” for singing him a rendition of “Happy Birthday” that includes the word “monkey”. Desarae Prather reportedly lashed out an the unnamed white educator after she saw a video of her black son being serenaded by his class at Floral Avenue Elementary School in Bartow, Florida, to mark his sixth birthday. A clip of the moment showed the youngster first being treated to a traditional version of the song, before a woman’s voice suggests they do a “funny” performance too. “Ok, it goes like this,” she continued. “Happy birthday to you. You live in the zoo. You look like a monkey, and you smell like one too.”
“I couldn’t believe it,” Ms Prather told local news outlet The Ledger. Appearing to address the teacher, she added: “I felt like you were being racist. I don’t approve of that, and that’s you humiliating him in front of his peers. No child should have to go to school and feel like they can’t confide in an authority figure without them calling them racist slurs, and that goes for any kid, not just my child.”
She said she was sent a video of the sing-a-long by the teacher and did not respond directly but complained to the school, who relayed her concerns to the Polk County Public Schools office.
Ms Prather added that her son, Legend, was so upset by the experience that he didn’t want to go to school. “He feels as if people are going to call him a monkey,” she said.
“Now I have to seek counselling for him because he was crying not to be in her class or even go back to that school. I shouldn’t have to wake up every day to see that my son feels this way.”
She added that she thought the teacher should “own up to her actions” and “write an apology” to the family, even suggesting that senior figures should consider firing her over the incident.
The schools district confirmed in a statement that officials were reviewing the footage and evaluating the teacher’s conduct.
“We understand and share the concerns about the teacher’s actions and judgement,” a spokesperson said. “As a public school system we serve students and families of all cultures and backgrounds [and] we expect our employees to always keep that in mind as they interact with others.”
Stephanie Yocum, president of the Polk Education Association warned against jumping to conclusions over the video and said the teacher had received death threats after it was widely circulated on social media.
“Every single person in this country deserves the right to fair investigations and due process,” she said. “And it is a sad state of affairs … no matter what side of an issue you end up being on, that people think that threatening somebody else’s life is acceptable.”
