Justin Trudeau’s old school in Newton, Maskachusetts makes the news

by philg

I hope that everyone (except, perhaps, that notorious reprobate Toucan Sam) has been celebrating Black History Month.

Some news from Newton, Massachusetts… “… Blackface classroom activity was used to ‘celebrate’ Black History Month” (MassLive):

When Nadirah Pierce picked up her children from IC Kids Montessori earlier this week, she noticed they were covered in black paint. They said it was for a Black History Month project.

Pierce didn’t think much of it until the school posted photos from the activity for parents online on Wednesday. That’s when she saw the children had painted faces on paper plates using the black paint and were holding them up to their faces.

IC Kids Montessori in Newton issued an apology for the Blackface incident but removed the post about an hour later and subsequently removed the school’s Facebook account entirely.

“To all who are offended, we sincerely apologize for what happened with one of our classroom activities: black face,” the school originally wrote on Facebook. “Our intention was to celebrate Black History Month. Unfortunately we didn’t do enough research on black history and carried out a wrong activity. We are sorry about it and we mean it!”

The photos also included children planking in rows. This and the popular 2011 trend by the same name mirror the way slaves were often transported on slave ships.

“Planking was a way to transport slaves on ships during the slave trade, its [sic] not funny,” Xzibit tweeted, according to the Washington Post. “Educate yourselves.”

But the National Museum of African American History and Culture told CNN that’s not an excuse.

“Minstrelsy, comedic performances of ‘blackness’ by whites in exaggerated costumes and makeup, cannot be separated fully from the racial derision and stereotyping at its core,” it said.

“I hope this is a lesson for all daycare centers,” she said. “Do your research. Ask people in your community, reach out to the parents.”

From the BBC, a successful graduate of this Montessori school:

Speaking of following Science, the current personification of Science is from Newton, MA: Rochelle Walensky.

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10 thoughts on “Justin Trudeau’s old school in Newton, Maskachusetts makes the news”

  1. The subtitle of the photo “damaging images” is incorrect. The white Mx. Trudeau has emerged successfully from this discovery, unlike a BIPOC professor who did not use blackface himself but showed Laurence Olivier in Othello:

    https://www.nytimes.com/2021/10/15/arts/music/othello-blackface-bright-sheng.html

    If one is part of a family that has admired dictators (https://medium.com/@leibowitt/of-course-fidel-castro-is-justin-trudeaus-dad-nobody-has-debunked-anything-4db6fc8a9042), one appears to be safe in our new totalitarian world.

  2. Thanks for the shout out! For readers still wondering, I still do not care about Black Lives Matter!

  3. I feel badly for the kids, who now have good reason to fear that old elbow: “Just WHAT are they teaching them down at that Montessori School?”

    Justin Trudeau’s claim to forgetfulness is perhaps just as credible: that man has worn so many faces and hats over the course of his life that I’m sure he has trouble remembering them all! Even if he did the same one several times in a couple different variants and appeared to be very much awake and attentive! But with enough essential marijuana, people will soon be able to claim they just don’t remember things the way they used to!

    https://www.theonion.com/jim-anchower-is-one-smart-used-car-shopper-1819583632

  5. The thing that’s always really bothered me about guys in Trudeau’s echelon is the same thing that bothers me now: in 2019, he attempted to deflect some of the blame away from himself, his personal will, in other words onto the nebulous concept of his “privilege.” Having listened to quite a few things he’s said, my own personal gauge of Prime Minister Trudeau is that he is not so much a child of ‘privilege’ as he is simply a ‘lightweight’ and a well-spoken idiot who enjoys a good party as long as nobody else remembers it. He’s really an astoundingly lightweight politician to occupy that office and everything. He’s badly informed, he’s got the wrong instincts, he’s not a serious person, and he will try at every turn to escape the consequences of those things.

    There’s nothing that can cure them! He has to be voted out!

  6. I appreciate my American friends paying some attention to our delightfully boring Canadian politics! PM Trudeau inherited all the looks of his mother but none of the brains of his father, who was a very intelligent and accomplished man. It’s not easy for a person to be dictator of a country for 50 years. Or Prime Minister of a country for 15 years, depending on who his father is. Without his last name he would still be a part-time drama teacher and snowboard instructor.

  7. The moral indignation in the article is hilarious. Here we have MASS LIVE spelling out the n-word in 2015:

    https://www.masslive.com/entertainment/2015/10/art_for_the_soul_gallery_i.html

    *”Ten Little [redacted] Girls: A Works-in-Progress/Open Studio Exhibition” is a series of 10 large-scale drawings – all 4-feet-by-5-feet – that collectively addresses the present-day reality of black girls in different states of danger within the American and global cultural contexts.*

    They also do not capitalize “Black”. I suppose this publication should be canceled like they tried with Joe Rogan.

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