Students at a Louisville, Kentucky, high school staged a walkout on Aug. 24 after a fight involving a teacher and a student the day prior.
A Kentucky teacher seen pinning a Black student to the floor and gripping his hair in a viral video captured on Monday has been reassigned to no instructional duties, a spokesperson for the Jefferson County Public Schools said on Tuesday.
“There was a physical altercation at Marion C. Moore School between a student and a teacher,” JCPS spokeswoman Renee Murphy said. “A full review of the matter is currently underway and during this time the teacher will not be in the classroom.”
But students called for the teacher to be fired during the Tuesday protest. The walk-out, which followed a protest outside the school the previous day after the video began circulating, was approved by administration beforehand and students agreed to stay on school grounds.
Whoopi Goldberg Slams ‘Cancel Culture’ and Credits Barbara Walters for Saving Her Career
Other protesters also attended the demonstration, standing in solidarity with the students.
“We are not standing for [any] type of racism. We are not standing for [any] type of bigotry. We are not standing for [anything] but what’s right at this point in justice,” local man Bradley Temple told WLKY.
The Aug. 23 fight in a hallway at the Louisville school between 16-year-old Jamir Strane and a chemistry teacher who has been identified as William Bennett reportedly began after an argument about the student’s bandana-style face covering.
The recording was captured by a schoolmate. When the video starts, Strane is pinned to the ground and Bennett is on top of him
“Get off him!” students standing in the hallway yell. Some students tried to intervene and attempted to pull Bennett off Strane. Other adults entered the struggle and lifted Bennett off the student but as the two stood up and Strane continued striking Bennett, the teacher gripped the teenager’s hair.
