Wake County teacher's poster calls 'Make America Great Again' racist
WAKE COUNTY (WTVD) -- Posted in Franca Gilbert's classroom at Franklin Academy High School earlier in September was a pyramid poster citing examples of overt white supremacy and covert white supremacy.
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According to one parent, the French teacher presented the poster to students as an assignment and asked them to translate it into French.
Joe Dilorenzo has a sophomore who attends Franklin. He believes this type of teaching has no place in a high school classroom, regardless of one's political beliefs.
He also agrees that Gilbert made a mistake.
"I don't want her to be fired," Dilorenzo said. "I heard she's a very good French teacher. Stick to French!"
The poster lists "socially unacceptable overt white supremacy" examples as:
- Lynching
- Hate crimes
- Swastikas
- The N-word
- Racial slurs
- Racist jokes
- Neo-nazis
- Burning crosses
While "socially acceptable covert white supremacy" examples include (but are not limited to):
- "Make America Great Again"
- Police brutality
- Euro-centric curriculum
- Celebration of Columbus Day
- Racial profiling
- Police murdering POC (people/persons of color)
- Cultural appropriation
- Denial of white privilege
"When I saw the Columbus Day, that was the last straw, and I called the principal in minutes," said Dilorenzo, who is of Italian descent.
He also believes that while this type of teaching serves no purpose in a high school classroom, there are specific exceptions.
"If it is a class that is designed to talk about political events or political science, then OK," said Dilorenzo. "There is a certain path they need to follow."
ABC11 reached out to school administrators Friday and did not receive comment.
Gilbert told ABC11 she feels "fine" after the incident and still has her job. She declined to comment further.
"If she wants to go be a professor, let her be a professor and let kids who are 19, 20, 21-years-old take her course," Dilorenzo added. "But not when kids are 14, 15, 16-years-old."
