A white Pflugerville ISD teacher in Texas was placed on leave after a video posted online showed him telling Black students his race is “superior,” according to KXAN-TV.
“Deep down in my heart, I am ethnocentric,” the unidentified teacher told students at Bohls Middle School. “Which means I think my race is the superior one.”
The teacher appeared to direct the remark toward two Black students. Those two students sat in stunned silence, one holding his hand over his face, while other students gaped in shock and broke out into awkward laughter, the video shows.
Several students challenged the teacher. One Black student told the teacher he liked “all types of kinds.”
“Wait, so you said you are what?” another student asked. “You are racist?” The teacher said he thinks everybody is.
“You said you are racist,” the student told the teacher.
“I did, I’m going to be honest with you,” the teacher responded before telling the student to put his phone away. The students told the teacher he had lost their respect.
In a letter obtained by KXAN, Bohls Middle School Principal Sharon Churchin told parents the teacher was placed on leave pending the outcome of an investigation. “This interaction does not align with our core beliefs as a district,” the letter said. “The video of the conversation includes statements that we find wholly inappropriate.”
The letter appeared to praise the students for speaking up for themselves.
“We always do our best to ensure the safety of all students; we encourage them to be self-advocates and let an adult know when something is wrong, as they did in this situation; this could be to a parent, a teacher, or a counselor,” Churchin wrote. “If you see something, say something.”
It’s unclear if the teacher will be paid while on leave.
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