I wanna be like you hoo hoo
Posted by qmonkey on November 6, 2007
I’m not really a ‘Mr Angry’ character, if I was I would probably be a better and opinionated blogger. I tend to give celebs and people in newspapers the benefit of the doubt - saying things like. I don’t really know Peter Andre, who am I to have an opinion on him, likewise Jade Goody or Prince Philip. I say this as cover for the fact that once in a while a someone says something, or a story emerges that really gets to me and makes me into ‘Mr Angry from Bristol’.
My local infant school recently made the local Points West news over a teacher racism scandal. Click here to read the story on BBC.
I’ll paraphrase it. The school was putting on production for parents of Jungle Book, when the teacher was apportioning out roles, she asked the 7 year olds, who wants to be a monkey? Of course, every hand was pushed high in the air, and the teacher chose 5 kids. Two of the kids were black brothers (I mean they WERE actually brothers).
That’s pretty much the story. When the they got home they excitedly told their mum and step father (indecently their step father is white). At this point the parents hit the roof, and demanded an explanation from the school, and the suspension of the teacher. Why? Because it was racist to cast the black kids as monkeys.
There was a massive hoopla with BBC Points West covering the story for a couple of days and newspaper interviews from teachers and parents at the school.
It made me really sad. What on earth did these parents think they were doing. What exactly did they want the teacher to say… “sorry kids you can’t be monkeys because some idiots in the 1970s used to use monkey as a derogatory term for blacks”.
My son will quite likely go to this school in a few years, and it really annoys me the idea that he would come home from school asking why his friend Billy wasn’t allowed to be a monkey because he’s black.
The MOST annoying thing is, that the school seemed to pander to the parents, instead of laughing them out the school… or maybe make them attend some basic classes!
What’s that they say, political correctness gone mad.
There you go… once you’ve typed that phrase in a blog, you really ARE “Mr Angry”.
November 8, 2007 at 5:16 pm
I fear this is the tip of a Titanic sinking iceberg: in saying that though: in Nativity plays brunette girls never get to play Angels: surely Pre-school is too early to pursue the ideals of Hitler’s Aryan Race?
PS I am a brunette; who always wanted to be an Angel- being The Narrator was crappy: you didn’t get to wear a costume…(good to know that I’ve got over it though)
November 8, 2007 at 5:55 pm
i was a shepherd. i said ‘and so will i’
If i remember it was following the line ‘i will bring a sheep’ … can’t help feeling mine was token wordage. Mum said it was the best bit of the play, who am i to argue
November 11, 2007 at 1:04 am
I played a shepherd and Santa in the school nativity once, as I recall it involved a very quick costume change. To this day I’m not really sure how they managed to fit Santa into the script, I do remember showing a bit of leg through Santa’s robe though, there wasn’t enough time to put trousers on below. In this day and age the teacher in charge would probably get done for child abuse of some sort. To be fair, the pat on the bum before I went on stage was uncalled for
November 15, 2007 at 1:14 am
I too wanted to be an angel…..but being a brunette..I ended up being a tree!!I did, however pull off a memorable performance as Baghera the panther in The Jungle Book!