A Massachusetts high school principal has promised racially segregated spaces for students and staff to “process” a Wisconsin jury’s not guilty verdict in the Kyle Rittenhouse case.
Henry Turner, the principal of Newton North High School in Massachusetts, notified students and staff that spaces to “process” the jury’s not guilty verdict in the Rittenhouse case would be available, including a space reserved only for “students and staff of color.”
STUDENTS AT ARIZONA STATE UNIVERSITY TRY TO GET KYLE RITTENHOUSE EXPELLED
Rittenhouse was acquitted earlier this month by a jury in Kenosha, Wisconsin, of killing two men and wounding a third during a riot last year prompted by the shooting of Jacob Blake by a local police officer. Rittenhouse, relying heavily on video evidence, successfully argued that he had acted in self-defense.
In addition to offering the processing spaces, Turner incorrectly recounted details about the case, including by saying that “there is a long history of acquittals such as this when white people get off for murdering black people,” despite the fact that the three people shot by Rittenhouse in Kenosha, Wisconsin, last year were white.
“I can’t be surprised by the decision of the Rittenhouse case, but that lack of surprise doesn’t diminish the pain and the hurt,” Turner wrote. “We should anticipate that many people in your school community will be reeling from this verdict. This will further add to the stress in school communities where parents and politicians argue that race and racism should not be discussed in schools.”
Turner told educators in his email that students who ask why the school is “making a big deal” about the verdict should be told that “we are living in a time where racial justice is front and center of our conversations” and that “racial justice is a value of our school and district.”
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Parents Defending Education, which initially publicized Turner’s emails, said his comments “reveal an alarming level of ignorance and a belief that [it] is his job to push his ill-informed opinions on staff which then makes its way to the 2,100 students in his school.”
Turner did not respond to a request for comment.
