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This Week in Racism
Alabama Teacher Gives Lesson in Poor Decorum With Racist Rant
It’s an embarrassment of riches in our weekly roundup of the world’s most preventable disease!
Death and taxes used to be the only two certainties in life. But no matter how much progress it feels like we’re making sometimes, the sad fact is you can probably slide racism into that list. Are we in a moment of uprising that feels like it has the potential to create real, systemic change? Yes. Do people and organizations still show their ass on a daily basis? Oh, most definitely. And to keep tabs on all that ass-showing, we created a weekly racism surveillance machine.
🗑 Florida man forgets that anger doesn’t also have to be racist
In Crystal River, Florida (surprise!), police arrested a man for vandalizing a van for a local Black hair company with graffiti of a noose and the phrase “KKK.” What was his beef with the company? Apparently nothing at all — the vandal owns a local sign company, and claimed he was pissed that an employee of his had gone to work for the competitor who designed the van’s new wrap. WHY THE NOOSE AND THE KLAN REFERENCE, THEN? We’re not one to judge a book by its cover, but judging from ol’ Victor Lee Buttermore’s mug shot — not to mention his name, which straight-up makes us hear banjos — we’re gonna go ahead and guess he doesn’t have the keen analytical mind necessary to separate his racism from what he’s actually angry about. (Not to mention remembering the universe’s cardinal rule: Not only do you not mess with a Black woman’s hair or a Black woman’s business, but you never ever ever mess with a Black woman’s hair business.) (WCJB ABC 20)
🗑 Alabama teacher also forgets that anger doesn’t also have to be racist
In southern Alabama, just a short drive from Florida (double surprise!), a middle school teacher has resigned after video of her turning into a Mount Vesuvius of hate went viral. During a series of arguments with her ex-husband (not to mention DMs she sent him), Olivia Stephens-Squires — who taught English at Southside Preparatory Magnet Academy — let loose with an absolute…
