Girl, 6, 'labelled racist' for 'chocolate on your face' comment

[Honey]

A girl of six was accused of racism after telling a black school pupil: 'You have chocolate on your face'.



Sharona Gower's parents fear the incident could "haunt" her through her school career, after being told that the incident had been logged.
Sharona had been eating chocolate mousse and playing with a friend when she was chased by two 11-year-old girls.
One of them, who was black, said that Sharona had chocolate on her face, to which the six-year-old replied: "Well, you've got chocolate on yours."
The older girl complained and Sharona was told off by a teacher.
Picking her daughter up from St Paul's School in Rusthall, near Tunbridge Wells, Kent, her mother Michelle Gower, 44, was told that the "racist" incident had been logged.
She told the Daily Mail that the teacher was required to log the incident by law.
Sharona's father Nick, 45, said: "It was a bit of playground banter that has been taken as a sinister racial remark.
"This is a six-year-old who hasn't got an idea what racism is and has been labelled as a racist.
"This is political correctness gone absolutely crazy," he commented.
Mrs Gower said she complained to the head teacher, Carolyn Cohen, about the way the incident was handled.
"I told her Sharona is very upset and confused about this situation and didn't fully understand why she was being reprimanded."
Mrs Cohen said the incident had not actually been logged on a computer database.
In a statement, the school said: "This was a small incident, which has been blown out of all proportion. Children and parents were spoken to following an inappropriate comment.
"The matter was dealt with appropriately and the issue is closed."

Girl, 6, 'labelled racist' for 'chocolate on your face' comment - Telegraph

[celeb_2006]

Better get this girl to sensitivity training real quick.

[kingcap72]

Racist? Seriously? Political correctness jumps a few more sharks.

[Jezi]

I don't even think the remark was about the other kid's skin color.

It was just a retort like 'you smell like poo!' 'yeah, well, you smell like poo too!' It's just something a kid would say without thinking about the meaning. I don't even think their brains are developed enough to think something through.

[Shinola]

My son is six and I spend time with six-year-olds every day, and they're not very aware of race and all of its social implications. Some kids this age make all sorts of remarks that could be taken as insensitive ... they're freaking six. I agree this shouldn't be put on the girl's permanent record, although I'd be surprised if it could ever actually come back to haunt her. It just seems like waaay overkill to formally log it.

[RevellingInSane]

Racism is a learned behavior, not innate. She's six and was being picked on. She was just lashing back and what she said wasn't even rude! I've heard much more colorful comebacks from six year old kids.

[Sarzy]

This shouldn't have even made the news. Ridiculous.

[MontanaMama]

So the parent is concerned that this could follow her daughter through school and she allows her to be photographed for an inane news story?

Sounds like the head teacher is the only one with any common sense.

[Rica]

Originally Posted by MontanaMama

So the parent is concerned that this could follow her daughter through school and she allows her to be photographed for an inane news story?

Sounds like the head teacher is the only one with any common sense.

I may have done the same thing if it was my daughter. She has gotten the story out, and people can see for themselves that its a ridiculas thing for the school to have done.

[xXull]

LOL actually that's kind of cute. Both girls are going to probably laugh about it in hindsight even if they know eachother or not.

And they should have ignored it because all they're going to do is teach the little black girl to get offended because she's black. Nothing wrong with being proud of who you are, but I think political correctness in it's own way is beginning to hinder that sort of thinking. "Don't tell people bad things so bluntly."

'no no, we don't say black, we say african american' ;((

I was also thinking if these people consider this 'racist', they'd die here.

[xXull]

Originally Posted by MontanaMama

So the parent is concerned that this could follow her daughter through school and she allows her to be photographed for an inane news story?

Sounds like the head teacher is the only one with any common sense.

Oh, and nah, parent is worried about growing up with students bullying racist girl.