by Hayley Feland
A St. Paul public school is displaying a poster in its hallways that accuses police of hating minorities.
An image obtained by Alpha News of a poster from Johnson Senior High School depicts a fist breaking a law enforcement badge and reads, “No more police hatred toward minorities.”
A teacher at the school, who asked to remain anonymous, told Alpha News that he believes the poster is inappropriate.
“It’s exactly the type of thing we should be fighting against, which is a stereotype of certain people (police), lumping them all together as if all of them hate minorities, as well as the stereotype that all minorities are or should think of themselves as victims of police hatred simply due to their ethnicity or race,” he said.
The teacher said that this type of rhetoric will drive a “permanent wedge” between police and the community.
“Coupled with removing our uniformed police officers from St. Paul Public Schools, our district is practically guaranteeing a permanent wedge between minorities and our police, instead of showcasing them to demonstrate how important they are to our community, and to show that they are precisely not hateful of minorities,” he said.
Erica Wacker, the director of communications for St. Paul Public Schools, told Alpha News that the poster was part of a “Critical Ethnic Studies” course, which teaches students to “resist all systems of oppressive power rooted in racism through collective action and change.”
“Other projects addressed climate justice, social movements and culture,” Wacker said.
Wacker provided the course description, which states: “Critical Ethnic Studies is an interdisciplinary course that examines students’ identity, heritage, culture and communities in relation to various power structures, forms of oppression and inequalities that have an impact on their lives. With an emphasis on stories and lived experiences of people of color in the United States, the course explores the collective struggles, resilience and triumphs of their communities.”
The teacher told Alpha News that while the course is an elective, the poster was still hanging in a common area near the cafeteria as of Wednesday, where it’s been for several weeks. He explained that displaying the poster would have required approval from school staff.
“I consider it an overt method of driving a false narrative that all police, instead of just a tiny fraction, hate minorities or are prejudiced against certain people based upon race [or] ethnicity,” the teacher said.
Jamil Payton, the principal of Johnson Senior High School, did not respond to Alpha News’ request for comment.
Dave Racer, an alumnus of Johnson Senior High School, told Alpha News that the poster’s message is disgraceful.
“A poster that blames and shames police officers, as if what they do and who they are are to be condemned, has no place in any public building — especially a high school,” he said.
“My classmates are astounded by the common disrespect for law enforcement today, and we can assure you, this would never hang on our school walls,” he continued. “Johnson High graduated several students who went on to successful careers as police officers. Former Ramsey County Sheriff Matt Bostrom, his father, the former City Council president, and uncle, all are retired officers. Good men with high standards who practiced equality.”
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Hayley Feland previously worked as a journalist with The Minnesota Sun, The Wisconsin Daily Star, and The College Fix. She is a Minnesota native with a passion for politics and journalism.
Photo “Johnson Senior High School” by Johnson Senior High School.
Erica Wacker is nothing but a hidden now out in the open Marxist. She is teaching the hate, racism of BLM a Marxist organization. She knows what she is doing, pushing her agenda of hate to make kids fight with each other over the difference of their skin color. She knows this is a technique of communism tearing apart society of a country by teaching kids and adults to separate from each other so commies can conquer one side or the other and than both sides. She should be fired for this agenda of Marxism technique of building hate to gain control. She and probably the other teachers and principal and the board members know this and are in on it with her since they are letting this commie do what she wants. Fire her and those backing her up or just bring in regular communism classes instead of fake racist classes for your kids.
While some cops may be racist, the majority are power mad.
Since what the school means is that police hate black people perhaps they’re right. Police arrest law breakers who lie, steal, commit all kinds of crimes, rape and murder. Personally, I’d think that means the cops don’t actually like anyone they arrest. Now, we see BLACK people breaking nearly every law there is and are arrested. Of course in many cities or states those law breakers are immediately turned loose to walk the streets and continue committing their illegal activities. Do we have a double standard? YOUR DAMN RIGHT WE DO AND THE BLACKS ARE GIVEN THE KEY TO THE CITY!
Good day.
I believe this makes for a great opportunity for Johnson Senior High School to look at taking the ‘opinion’ implied on the poster and dissect it with facts. Make it a collective school project. There’s a theory being stated, but what is it based on and/or what do the numbers say? What info would one need to collect to prove or disprove the theory? Invite the police into the conversation, get state data, get national data, collect it all and then stand back and assess and discuss what picture that tells and how does that picture compare w/what the impressions were before the poster got put on the wall? Let’s help build some thinking skills. Thanks for the opportunity to share. All the best.