The family of a 12-year-old boy is requesting for his teacher to be fired after she called the boy a ‘terrorist.’ While at at First Colony Middle School, Waleed Abushaaban and his friends were watching the movie ‘Bend It Like Beckham’ when the teacher made the remark.
Abushaaban says,
“We’re in the class watching a movie. I was just laughing at the movie and the teacher said, ‘I wouldn’t be laughing if I was you.’ And I said ‘Why?'” According to Waleed, the teacher then said “because we all think you’re a terrorist.”
While authorities investigate the situation, the teacher has been removed from the classroom, as she should have. Remarks like that are completely unacceptable, especially coming from a teacher.
Waleed’s father, Malek Abushaaban, says,
“Just because my son is a Muslim doesn’t mean he’s a terrorist. He’s an American. He’s as American as anybody else. He was born here.”
Fort Bend County school district officials wanted to distance themselves from the situation saying,
While the teacher reports her statements were made in the context of trying to make a point about negative stereotypes, District officials do not believe that the teacher exercised the appropriate sensitivity expected of the District’s educators, and do not believe that the statements were made in a manner that is in keeping with the District’s Core Beliefs and Commitments.
