A white Chicago teacher says she used the N-word twice in class to demonstrate how offensive the former name of the Washington Football Team is to Indigenous people.
The incident occurred late last month at Mother McAuley High School when Mary DeVoto, a longtime history teacher there, says she was teaching a sophomore class about racial slurs.
"I was really just trying to tell the children is to say the R-word is just as abhorrent as to say the N-word to African Americans," DeVoto told WGN, adding that she knew what she said wasn't ok the minute she said it, but continued on with the lesson anyway.
DeVoto was suspended from the school and later fired after teaching there for 41 years. According to WGN, some are hoping DeVoto gets a second chance, a petition to get her reinstated has more than 3,000 signatures.
"To me it doesn't reflect what I've done for 41 years and I would want the administration to work with me and help me bridge this problem with my students," DeVoto said.
In a statement, the school said, "we recognize mistakes happen to each one of us, and we make every effort, regardless of the popularity of such decisions, to embrace the opportunity to learn from such teachable moments. To embrace mistakes means we must learn not to repeat such behaviors, to demonstrate clear remorse and to be able to rebuild trust that has been lost.”
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