Dickinson High School students in Jersey City, New Jersey, were logged into their Zoom class to continue their virtual learning when they instead received a racist rant from one of their white teachers. NBC New York reports that Howard Zlotkin was supposed to give the young adults a lesson on climate change, but things took a turn for the worst when he brought up George Floyd, calling him a f***ing criminal and allegedly saying he deserved his fate “because he wouldn’t comply.”
“I hear people whining and crying about Black Lives Matter, but George Floyd was a f*****g criminal and he got arrested and he got killed because he wouldn’t comply and the bottom line is we make him a f*****g hero,” Zlotkin said in the Zoom class call recording, continuing his racist rant. At one point, he also told his students, “If you think I’m privileged then f*** you, because my daughter thinks I’m privileged and I don’t speak to her.”
Several of Zlotkin’s Black students listened on in horror as their teacher began to hurl his angry bigotry their way. Timmia Williams, a senior at the high school, claims that he called out four of his Black, female students and demanded that they write him an essay.
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Williams and her mother contacted both the local board of education and school officials, but according to NBC New York, were shocked to discover Zlotkin back at school that same week. Continuing to use intense, racist language, he told Williams after she didn’t bring back the essay, “I don’t think you can make a case. You know what Timmia? You’re full of s**t too,”
Later that day, Zlotkin was finally removed by Jersey City Public Schools, who said in a statement to NBC News, “The school was in the process of taking statements from students today before proceeding with disciplinary actions, and then the second video surfaced. The teacher will not have access to students or the school as we proceed,”
“We are appalled by the statements, profanity, disrespect and treatment of students,” they added. It is unclear whether Zlotkin is suspended or fired pending their investigation.
