02.09.2014
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EXCLUSIVE: Queens school barred student reports on 'bad' Malcolm X, parents say
Teachers at Public School 201 in Flushing wouldn't let their students write about Malcolm X for Black History Month, parents say, and called the controversial activist 'violent' and 'bad.' Some parents feel the teachers are forcing their opinions on students and disrespecting black history.
JOHN PEODINCUK
Parents are outraged over teachers at PS 201 in Flushing, Queens, not allowing their children to write about Malcolm X (right), seen here with Muhammad Ali, then known as Cassius Clay.
Queens parents are using any means necessary to stop their children’s teachers from besmirching Malcolm X’s name.
Teachers at Public School 201 in Flushing told fourth-graders last week that the controversial activist was “violent” and “bad.” They also refused to let the kids write about the assassinated icon for Black History Month.
Parent Cleatress Brown, 47, of Flushing complained to Principal Rebecca Lozada on Friday after a teacher forbade her fourth-grade son from writing a report on Malcolm X.
“I’m outraged,” said Brown. “As a teacher, you’re imposing your opinion on a bunch of kids.”
She had her son write about him anyway — and then turn the paper in to her. “That’s called learning,” she said.
Another parent, Angel Minor, said she was “very upset” after her son came home complaining he couldn’t do a report on Malcolm X for his technology class.
“It was disrespectful to our history,” said Minor, 33, whose son is not in Brown’s class.
Children were asked to pick from several prominent black leaders, including Martin Luther King Jr., Rosa Parks and Malcolm X for the project, Minor said.
“I felt like when he grew up, he wanted to stop segregation so everyone could be equal,” said her son Tyrese Minor, 9.
But his teacher quickly took Malcolm X off the list. The black leader defended the use of violence as a form of self-defense before his assassination in 1965.
SAM COSTANZA
(From left) Frank Brown, 40, Eliakim Brown, 9, and Cleatress Brown, 40, stand with Tyrese Minor, 9, and Angel Minor, 33. The families are upset that the children were barred from writing about Malcolm X for Black History Month.
About 43% of the 477 students at PS 201 are black, according to the school’s website. It earned a “C” on its last city report card.
City Department of Education officials said they were looking into the matter and would not defend it.
“Malcolm X is a historical figure and a hero to many New Yorkers that we believe should be celebrated in our schools,” said agency spokesman Devon Puglia.
Lozada did not immediately return calls for comment.
Eliakim Brown, 9, picked Martin Luther King Jr. for his class project.
“Malcolm X did the same thing as Martin Luther King,” he said. “They both fought for the rights of the world.”
The civil rights movement wasn’t all about MLK, said Sylvia Cyrus, executive director of the Association for the Study of African-American Life and History.
“Malcolm X is a figure in American history who helped make change,” she said. “Students should be allowed to write about him.”
This isn’t the first time PS 201 has come under fire.
In April 2012, a kindergarten teacher gave kids a worksheet with a picture of a gun and a robber on it for a spelling lesson.
The teacher later apologized.
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