Chicago High Schoolers Hold Sit-In After Teacher Told Student 'Go Back to Your County'

I simply feel like it should be a standard policy that racists shouldn’t be teachers. If you’re going to be an asshole at least have the decency to not be one towards children. Granted racists don’t know what decency is. Otherwise, they probably wouldn’t be racists.

According to NBC News, students at Senn High School in Chicago staged a sit-in on Wednesday to protest a teacher’s racist remark. The remark occurred during a Hispanic heritage assembly in January. Student Yésica Salazar, 17, sat during the National Anthem along with a few other students. They were doing so in protest of U.S immigration polices, police brutality and the wave of anti-immigrant rhetoric that has become too commonplace these days. A teacher asked her to explain her stance and before she could even finish he reportedly told her to “Go back to your country.” An anonymous student posted footage of the sit-in on Twitter.

The school has a predominately Latino population which makes his comments especially jarring. Why work at this school if this is how you feel? Also, what kind of a dick do you have to be to insult a Hispanic student during an assembly dedicated to Hispanic heritage? All you have to do is take one look at who’s in the White House to quickly understand why Salazar ain’t really messing with America like that.

Mary Beck, the school’s principal, told students during the sit-in that she had reported the teacher to the school district immediately after the incident occurred. This led students to ask her why the teacher is still at the school then.

Which, you know, fair question.

The school district’s press secretary, James Gherardi, said that an investigation has been opened into the teacher’s remark. There is no word on whether the teacher is still in the classroom.