Justify Slavery: Wisconsin 4th Grade Assignment Prompts Apology

WAUWATOSA, WI — A fourth-grader at a private school in Wauwatosa, Wisconsin, gave the perfect response when he and his classmates were given a homework assignment asking them to give three good and three bad reasons for slavery, prompting an apology from the principal at Our Redeemer Lutheran School.

“I feel there is no good reason for slavery,” Jerome Berry, 9, wrote on the assignment, saying that’s why he didn’t list any. He did give some bad reasons the institution that tarnished America’s early history, among them that slavery split up families and forced slaves into servitude — that is “making them do your chores when it’s your job.”

Jerome’s mother, Trameka Brown-Berry, posted the message on Facebook Monday, bringing the full fury of the internet down on principal and senior pastor Jim Van Dellen, who wrote in a letter to parents that the assignment was awkwardly worded, was offensive and “showed a lack of sensitivity.”

“The purpose of the assignment was not in any way to have the students argue that ANY slavery is acceptable — a concept that goes against our core values and beliefs about the equality and worth of all races,” he wrote, adding the the assignment is no longer part of the school’s curriculum.

Facebook users who commented on Brown-Berry’s post argued the assignment was especially tone deaf during what appears to be a resurgence of racism in America. Some users commented students might just as well have been asked to give three good reasons for and three against pedophilia or to justify the Holocaust.

In interviews with Milwaukee area media, Brown-Berry said the assignment would have been a better springboard for discussion if students had been asked simply to give the reasons that the institution of slavery is bad.

"Not only was my son in an awful position, but the students who weren't black — that's what keeps racism going," Brown-Berry told WITI-TV.

H. Nelson Goodson, administrator of Hispanic News Network U.S.A., told the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel the assignment was inappropriate for fourth-graders and that Brown-Berry was correct in bringing it to the public’s attention.

“The bigotry and anti-diversity feelings in this country lead people to believe it’s OK to act like that,” Goodson said.

Andrea Michel of the Safe Place Meeting Group said she was appalled the assignment came from a Christian school.

“They could say something like, ‘What are three good things we can do to prevent slavery happening?’ " Michel told WITI.

In his apology letter, Dellen praised Brown-Berry for bringing the assignment to his attention and that school officials are working with her family and others.

Brown-Berry wrote in another Facebook post that the school quickly responded with an apology and a promise of better communication. Dellen agreed to several action steps, which are under way:

1. A verbal apology to the kids,
2. A formal apology sent home to the parents;
3.The assignment be removed from current and future curriculum;
4. Something being sent home prior to any sensitive topics being discussed with students in the future;
5. The staff and teachers being trained in a cultural diversity/ cultural competency inservice to prevent this from happening again.

“Out of a very negative situation we were able to come together as a community and stand united in support,” she wrote, adding:

“The moral of the story is, the only way to teach our kids to stand up for their rights and respect is to model it. With all of your support I was able to give my child a personal life lesson about how change starts with you.”

Here is Brown-Berry’s original Facebook post:

Photo via Shutterstock