Students walked out of class after an English teacher told them that men and women ‘are fighting for your right to speak American’ after she caught them whispering in Spanish.
The moment was captured in a Snapchat video at Cliffside Park High School in New Jersey and has been shared on social media more than 20,000 times.
According to a student who witnessed the altercation, the teacher asked students whispering in Spanish to stop several times before making the comment.
The video begins recording as the teacher says, ‘Men and women are fighting. They are not fighting for your right to speak Spanish. They are fighting for your right to speak American.’
Snapchat video caught the moment a teacher spewed a racist comment when she told students to stop speaking Spanish to each other
The teacher told the students that men and women ‘fight for your right to speak American’. This prompted some students to walk out of the classroom
This happened at a school with a diverse community and a large Spanish-speaking population.
One student responds to the teacher and says, ‘You’re being racists. I know how to speak English’.
That’s when the students walk out the classroom as the female teacher points to the door repeatedly saying ‘bye’.
The video has incited students’ and alumni reaction.
‘This school is not a negative school,’ said Carmen Benitez, a senior at Cliffside Park H.S. ‘You know there are a lot of different cultures in our school. There’s a lot of teachers who respect us.’
Alumni Marvin Moreno told Pix 11, ‘You go to school to learn, you don’t go to feel attacked by someone you believe is an educator.’
This happened in a math class at Cliffside Park High School in New Jersey
While others are defending the teacher online as a ‘great person’ and ‘wonderful teacher’.
The teacher, who normally teaches English, was substituting for a junior and senior level math class.
Ironically, the English teacher incorrectly mixed the English language with ‘American language’ in her comments.
The principal called an assembly Friday to discuss the incident as some student brought the flags representing their heritage with them to school.
It’s reported that other teens are planning a walk-out Monday morning.
Those who walked out of the classroom in the video were not reprimanded.