Say What Now? Substitute Teacher Under Fire for Mocking a Child’s Hair on Instagram [Photo]

A substitute teacher in Canada was caught making fun of a Black child’s hair on her Instagram stories and now the school district is investigating.

The teacher compared the child’s hair to that of Loc Dog from the 1996 parody, Don’t Be a Menace to South Central While Drinking Your Juice in the Hood, in which Wayans played Loc Dog.

One of the teacher’s Instagram followers caught the teacher’s post and shared the photo online.

via Complex:

The Peel district school board answered the original user’s tweet, confirming the school has initiated an investigation and thanking the user for bringing the matter to their attention. In another tweet, the board also confirmed the matter is being investigated as “anti-Black racism.”

Toronto City News reports that the substitute teacher in question has been banned from communicating with students or teachers. The teacher taught kindergarten and has now also been barred from taking any future shifts with the district. The teacher was not, however, identified, and the Instagram account that posted the original offensive photo has been deleted. 

Carla Pereira, a spokesperson for the Peel district school board, described the situation as “simply unacceptable.” She is unsure how long the investigation will take, but the board’s social media guidelines for teachers allow for three possible punishments: verbal reprimand, attending sensitivity training, or termination.

“You’d be hard-pressed to look at that particular image and say that it’s not a post that would be considered racism,” Pereira told City News. “You look at it, you look at the use of Black stereotypes and you look at how the child is being compared to another individual in not a very nice way. I think you’d be very hard-pressed to say that it’s not anti-Black racism—even though that’s what we’re hearing from some members of the community who are saying its just a joke, it’s really not racist.”

It’s definitely racist. Thank goodness the kid’s face isn’t in the photo. That would be even worse.