Sometimes a bad situation improves. I had hoped that would be the outcome in regard to the white teacher who called an African-American student a "nigger" in class. As veteran readers of Silver Rights know, Brian Emanuels (pictured) of Seattle said he was resigning from predominately minority Cleveland High School. Unfortunately, he lied. Apparently, the mainly white administration of the school kept Emanuels on staff in a different position while claiming he had left. But, the bad situation did not stop there. In the ensuing months, life at Cleveland has gotten worse. Three teachers have now ended up in trouble for verbally abusing African-American pupils. Parents and students are furious. Little learning appears to be occurring.

The Seattle Post-Intelligencer has talked to students, parents and administrators.

Parents are demanding a solution to racial problems at troubled Cleveland High School, where three teachers have been placed on leave in the past year over race-related incidents.

During a meeting in the South Seattle school's auditorium yesterday, parents outlined a list of demands for principal Rick Harwood.

They called on him to protect the school's dean of students — one of only a few African American employees at Cleveland — from clashes with teachers. They demanded that more than 75 concerns in a letter written by students be addressed, and that the district hire a person of color to help Harwood, who is white, resolve those issues.

When I wrote about Brian Emanuels I said I believed he should be dismissed. It is my opinion his behavior and the subsequent snubbing of minority students and their parents were evidence of deeper problems at the school. Some bloggers responded by posting entries supporting Emanuels. According to them, African-Americans are the problem. They students at schools like Cleveland need to be 'disciplined' by people like Emanuels. Well, the 'disciplining' has continued.

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