Idris Bhatti
English 085
Professor
13 October 2010
Caught in the Crossfire Lynette Clemstone wrote the article, “Caught in the Crossfire,” which talked about reading a book, called Nappy Hair. The book talked about Nappy Hair, which we automatically relate to African Americans. It caused several controversies because the teacher was white. The parents’ actions were not justified, which leads us to believe that someone cannot teach one’s culture effectively. The parents’ actions cannot be justified because they did not read the book. Because the title was called Nappy Hair, parents automatically assumed that it was something racial. Parents were not involved in the meetings and they did not know what was happening in the classrooms. The article states, “Some parents thought a white teacher had no business raising such a culturally sensitive subject. ``Nappy,'' a colloquialism for curly African hair, is sometimes used as a put-down. Others say they would have objected to any teacher--white or black--talking to children about the topic, which they consider offensive” (Clemstone). This shows that the parents were mad because the book talked about Nappy Hair. This did not mean that the teacher was teaching the children about racism or being racists. Because the parents were getting mad, this shows that one cannot teach another culture effectively. It shows us that there is always going to be someone who will believe that the teacher is be biased and teaching the students