PTA apologizes after racial slur makes its way into Oakland elementary school yearbook
PTA apologizes after racial slur makes its way into Oakland elementary school yearbook
Parents at an Oakland elementary school made a shocking discovery in their children's yearbook this year, a racial slur from a 1940's newspaper article.
OAKLAND, Calif. - Parents at an Oakland elementary school made a shocking discovery in their children's yearbook this year: a racial slur from a 1940's newspaper article.
The offensive language was buried in an old article republished in this year's Montclair Elementary School yearbook.
The article, originally printed in the Montclarion, included the term "N-word babies" in reference to a carnival game once held at school's annual Otterwalk.
"The description of the game, once you start Googling it, is horrific," PTA president Sloane Young said on Sunday.
A number of historical descriptions of the game include a Black child or person, who would stick their head through a curtain while participants threw objects such as eggs or baseballs at them.
Young said she was first made aware of the slur ahead of Memorial Day weekend, after hundreds of copies had already been handed out to students.
"Our community is hurting, our community is angry," Young said.
According to Young, volunteers putting together the yearbook missed the offensive content.
"Unfortunately, they skimmed the first paragraph of that article, and scanned it into the software we use for the yearbook," she said.
"I have a very bold, outspoken eight-year-old, and when she saw it, she said, ‘Mom, why did you allow this to go in the yearbook when you’re Black?’" added Young.
The PTA immediately ordered reprints of the yearbook.
It also provided stickers to parents of students in the fifth grade, who had already gathered classmate's signatures, so that the offensive language could be covered.
The PTA also provided parents with educational resources to help families navigate conversations with their children.
"It was never to erase, turn a blind eye, or whitewash this horrific time in history," said Young. "It was really to give parents agency, and so we provided them with resources and options."
Young accepted full responsibility for the oversight under her leadership and said she hopes the incident will prompt reflection and discussion.
"This is something that, especially today, in the world we live in, we have to face," said Young. "We cannot think that it was so long ago that we don’t have to talk about it or learn from it."
KTVU reached out to the Oakland Unified School District about the incident, and at the time of this report had not heard back.