High School Principal Recants Apology for Racially Charged Public Meltdown
The only thing that's really clear from a video that went viral last weekend is that students of TNT Academy in Stone Mountain, Georgia, didn't get the uplifting high school graduation ceremony they'd hoped and worked for.
Even before school principal and founder Nancy Gordeuk made racially charged comments from the podium, the rumble of discontent and confusion in the venue was growing louder. Folks began chatting and shuffling about because after Gordeuk mistakenly dismissed the graduates, they thought the ceremony was over. She'd goofed and forgotten to let the valedictorian give his speech to fellow graduates of the private school, which caters to continuation students in what's known as a nontraditional setting.
Instead of just waiting for people to regroup after the snafu, Gordeuk berated the confused audience, calling grads and their families "so rude" for getting up. Then came a racial non sequitur specifying who she thought was ill-mannered.
"Look who's leaving—all the black people," she said, according to multiple videos posted to YouTube from Friday's ceremony. Her comment drew audible gasps, and many attendees stood to leave after hearing that. The Internet stood up and took notice too.
At first Gordeuk apologized for the comments, saying over the weekend that, essentially, the devil made her do it.
But she has since defended the remarks, telling NBC News she didn't think what she was saying was racist: "I didn't know 'black people' was a racist term."
Granted, identifying another person's race isn't inherently racist. But it's tough to know why Gordeuk chose to single out black attendees with the remark. Witnesses say her exasperated tone felt accusatory, that she seemed to be insinuating that black people are always ill-behaved.
Gordeuk went so far as to point out to NBC that she didn't use the n-word. That would have been racist, she allowed.
Her son can't say as much. He took to social media to defend his mom and used the n-word in taunts at her detractors. He later deleted the posts and wrote a more conciliatory note, but not before the originals were screen grabbed and published.
Like mother, like son—the damage was done.
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Original article from TakePart
