High School Teacher Escapes Termination after Racist Tweets Come Back to Bite Her
Every once in a while we’re bound to come across a working professional who forgot they may have left a load of racist posts on the internet years ago. Unfortunately for a Cincinnati Public Schools teacher, those very posts were dusted off and exposed, per ABC 9 News. Students organized a walk out demanding action be taken against the teacher.
Walnut Hills High School teacher Claire Thornberry was impersonated by a fake Twitter account posting screenshots of her decade-old racist and homophobic tweets, the report says. Allegedly, a student is behind the account and dug up tweets from 2013 and 2014 heavily polluted with the n-word and LGBT slurs. There’s also a photo of her posing with a student with the hashtag #BlackFellaFriday and the n-word (again) in the caption.
Read more
Aside from Halle Bailey, Here Are Other Black Disney Actors and Characters We Love
The Best TV Series, Movies of 2022 to Binge Before the Year Ends
Megan Thee Stallion Becomes 1st Black Woman to Land Forbes 30 Under 30 Cover
According to WCPO, Thornberry took accountability, admitting the tweets came from her old high school account. She said she didn’t even know they were still online.
“As a young and impressionable teenager, I made mistakes that I regret. The way I spoke in those posts is not acceptable. It does not represent the thoughts or language of my family or upbringing,” she said in an apology per ABC 9.
The students, though, didn’t believe a simple “sorry” would suffice.
More from WCPO:
On Friday, dozens of Walnut Hills High School students staged a walkout. Several students held signs including ones that read, “What about us” and “Hold her accountable.”
Shaylin King, a freshman at the school, organized the walkout. “With this protest, we hope to hopefully get Thornberry out,” she said.
King claims that the school’s lack of action against Thornberry makes her feel like she doesn’t matter as a student.
Whoever runs the account mirrored King’s message and recently tagged Cincinnati Public Schools on Twitter saying, “we want her out.”
The district announced in a press release that no disciplinary action would be taken against the teacher. There’s a good chance Thornberry learned from her mistakes. At the same time, teenage students calling out their teacher for what they perceive as racist and homophobic behavior could imply Thornberry knew her comments were inappropriate when she made them at the very same age.
Sometimes it’s worth pulling up those old receipts.
More from The Root
Sign up for The Root's Newsletter. For the latest news, Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.
