AUGUST 29, 2022 5:25 AM
The Sacramento City Unified School District recruited outside help last year to investigate and resolve a string of race-related incidents on campuses that outraged parents and upset students. It turned to Mark Harris, a Sacramento attorney who was hired as the district’s Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion monitor to investigate and advise the district in such incidents. Two especially difficult incidents involved staff. In June 2021, a white teacher at Kit Carson used a racial slur in a class discussion. She later resigned. In November 2021, someone targeted a Black vice principal at West Campus High School with racist graffiti and online harassment. The district never found a culprit, and the vice principal sued the district alleging officials failed to protect her from racist harassment.
Looking ahead to the new school year, Harris spoke with The Sacramento Bee by phone to share his views on how the district should go about regulating the use of the N-word on campus during school hours and at events.
Q: What should be done about the use of the N-word in schools, especially when it carries so much weight still in 2022?
A: This is complicated. It’s difficult. You mentioned Kit Carson. Do I believe that the person who is the subject of the investigation is a racist? No. I would say there’s no evidence indicating that she’s racist. So many times we get caught up in the ‘why’ when we should be focused on the ‘what’. The ‘what’ is she used the N-word in a school context. That is an absolute ‘see ya later’ as far as I’m concerned. It should be the same, in my opinion, if it’s an African American educator who does it, or if it’s a Caucasian educator who does it, LatinX, AAPI, then we can go on and on, even Indigenous.
Q: What are your thoughts on people who justify the use of the term because others use it, or because it’s widely used in popular culture?
A: It ain’t hard to figure this one out. So what I’m seeing is a number of teachers, typically Caucasian teachers, and typically younger Caucasian teachers say, ‘I grew up in the hip-hop generation where the lyrics were full of the use of the N-word. Why can’t I use it? Because my music indicates it. I hear students up and down every hallway in SCUSD and other school districts use the N-word consistently. And I don’t know whether they use it with the ‘a’ at the end or the ‘er’ at the end, but they’re using it, and if they can use it, I should be able to use it.’ To that I say, poppycock.
Q: Do you expect to hold high school, middle school, or even elementary school students to the same standard of professionalism?
A: For the professionals, for the people who get the paycheck, let me make this real simple. If you’re getting a paycheck from the school district, you shouldn’t be using the N-word. I’m going to make it very narrow and very specific. I’m not even gonna be grandiose about it. Relative to students, it is definitely a more complicated matter. Our kids are confused by these mixed signals we’re sending relative to this issue. We need to speak with a firm voice and a clear voice that the use of the N-word is unacceptable.
Q: Regarding students’ use of the word, do you believe in regulating the N-word like profanity and other curse words on campus?
A: I’m not for expelling students for the use of the word. I’m not for suspending students for the use of the word. Treating the adults who draw paychecks one way is different from treating students in the same manner or similar manner. We should be teaching them. They should step up and behave like teachers and explain to these young people why it’s inappropriate.
Q: How do you feel about the conscious use of substitute words instead of the N-word, such as ‘King’, ‘Queen’, ‘Brotha’, ‘Sista’, ‘Dude’, ‘Bro’, etc.?
A: I think it’s interesting. I believe in positive words that uplift and empower our community, so I’m down with referring to young people as kings and queens. I’m down with referring to students as scholars.
Q: I want to play devil’s advocate because there are some Black folk who allow others to call them the N-word. Does history, teaching, and education still matter?
A: That’s a beautiful question. I am a lawyer and I respect the First Amendment. If a person wants to express themselves in a manner that I don’t agree with, I’m not going to try to stifle that. I’m not going to try to suppress that. So if a person says I want to be referred to as an ‘N’, then God bless you. You have the right to have yourself referred to in a manner that you deem appropriate except, back to how I started, if you’re an employee of one of the school districts that I currently work with, represent, and that I have any influence over. If you’re drawing a paycheck, or if you’re in a position of authority, even if it is a volunteer, you will be dismissed if you use the N-word. So you better go find work somewhere else if you want to refer to yourself as an ‘N’.