Strollerderby
School T-Shirt Controversy: "N the ‘N’ Word"
Eight-year-old Jaiden Haber was sent to the principal’s office for wearing a shirt that said, “N the ‘N’ Word” and below that, “It’s time!” The principal of the Amityville school told Jaden to change the shirt. The executive director of the Nassau chapter of the New York Civil Liberties Union says that violated Jaiden’s First Amendment rights. The district superintendent says, “To send a little white girl wearing this shirt into a very diverse
district that is almost 90 percent nonwhite was not the way to address
this word. It’s a lightning rod.” Jaiden’s mom says the school should have used this as a teaching moment, and that Jaiden innocently made history. But you know what really bothers me about this story?
What Jaiden says. “My mom picked it out. She thought it would look nice on me. I don’t know why they made me take it off.” See, her mom didn’t explain the shirt to her, saying she wanted to “keep her innocent.” So while I’m with the New York Civil Liberties Union on the fact that she should have the right to wear the shirt, I am really, really bugged by the fact that her mom sent her to school in a controversial shirt without telling her the significance of it. Frankly, I think it’s totally unfair to her kid, and her comments make it sound as though she wanted to start something, in shades of lamb to the slaughter. What do you think? And how does this stack up against political onesies and the like?
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11 Comments
Anonymous commented on Jan 01 70 at 12:00 amI would say there is no difference between this and a political onesie… or a onesie that says ‘I Love the Ramones,” for that matter. Perhaps the level of scorn/humor will be different depending on the slogan and the age, but all of them are the same thing: the parent’s opinion slapped onto an unknowing child. Later on it will be lectures over dinner about how supply-side economics is for pansies, and no son of mine is going to Yale! Seriously, peeps: You teach your kids values; they form their own opinions.
Anonymous commented on Jan 01 70 at 12:00 amWhat do you expect from a mom who names her daughter Jaiden? Maybe mom should have spent less time giving out tacky t-shirts and more time washing her hair.
leahsmom commented on Jan 01 70 at 12:00 amI have a small quarrel with the “diverse student population” that’s 90% nonwhite. Is this a public school? Most of those are quite nondiverse – and there great arguments out there that this is harmful to the education of children both in the schools and out of them (see, e.g., Brown v. Board of Ed. or the writings of Jonathan Kozol.) “Diversity” becomes meaningless when you use it to describe a school with children mostly of one socioeconomic and racial background, with a few outliers thrown in.
Anonymous commented on Jan 01 70 at 12:00 amEvery school I’ve ever seen asserts their right to limit student’s freedom of speech to limit ‘distractions’ and ‘disturbances’ at school. I know when I was a kid one couldn’t wear tshirts advertising beer or cigarettes and the same rules were used to outlaw shirts with Hooters or Big Johnson designs.
But yeah, sticking a placard on your kid that she doesn’t even understand seems like someone just angling for a headline.
Anonymous commented on Jan 01 70 at 12:00 amYeah, this is horrible on the mom’s part.
Anonymous commented on Jan 01 70 at 12:00 amI would say that the difference between putting a baby in a onsie and putting a school age child in a particular shirt is that no one expects the baby to understand the onsie, but there is a high probability that someone is going to ask the older child about what they are saying with their clothes.
Anonymous commented on Jan 01 70 at 12:00 amNot impressed with this mother at all, but how can they be violating a child’s first amendments rights when she didn’t even understand the shirt in the first place and those didn’t know what “freedom of speech” she was even making?
steffmarcusky commented on Jan 01 70 at 12:00 amAccording to ugly.tumblr.com:
“Which, if one were unaware of the rules of algebra and all-caps, could be taken as a peaceful plea to
jeanne commented on Jan 01 70 at 12:00 amCorrect me if I’m wrong here, but the first “N” means “end” Say it out loud and you’ll get it.
Anonymous commented on Jan 01 70 at 12:00 amOh, thank goodness! I didn’t get it either!
Or are we just supposed to pretend to get it and look all worldly and clever, because I can totally fake smart!
BBBGMOM commented on Jan 01 70 at 12:00 amI don’t even understand the slogan. I know what the “N word” is and it is horrible. But what is the first “N”? Was it just because of the second reference to the “N word” that got her in trouble. I am definitely missing something here.
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