A teacher sparked furious backlash after sharing a video of her singing Happy Birthday to a black child that included the lyrics ‘you look like a monkey.’
Footage circulated on social media this week of the staff member leading her class through a rendition of the traditional version of the celebratory tune.
After they finished, the teacher asked the young boy, six-year-old Legend, if he would ‘like the funny’ version of the song.
As he nodded his head eagerly, she sang: ‘Happy Birthday to you, you live in a zoo. You look like a monkey, and you smell like one, too. Woo!’
The incident reportedly took place September 29 at Floral Elementary School in Bartow, Florida, with the viral footage triggering allegations of racism against the teacher, who is white.
The boy’s mother Desarae Prather said she was sent the clip by her son’s teacher, and said she was left so outraged she shared it across social media to call out the staff member.
‘My reaction, it was I couldn’t believe it,’ she told The Ledger. ‘It’s nothing funny.’
The footage led to debates over whether the teacher’s song was racist, with some viewers claiming it was meant to mock the child while others said the version was often harmlessly sung by all children on birthdays.
Prather said she had never heard the alternate version of the song before, and accused the teacher of trying to ridicule her son on his birthday.
‘I felt like you were being racist,’ she told The Ledger, addressing the teacher.
‘”You look like a monkey. You live in a zoo, and you smell like one, too.” I don’t approve of that, and that’s you humiliating him in front of his peers.
‘No child should have to go to school and feel like they can’t confide in an authority figure without them calling them racial slurs, and that goes for any kid, not just my child.’
Prather said her son was left too upset to return to school after the song.
‘My son can’t – he’s not even in school right now, because he feels as if people are going to call him a monkey, and his feelings are hurt,’ she said.
‘Now I have to seek counseling for him because he was crying for not to be back in her class or even go back to that school. I shouldn’t have to wake up every day to see that my son feels this way.’
The outraged mother said she complained to the school, but was told that all they could do was to relay her complaint to the Polk County Public Schools (PCPS) office.
In a statement from the district after the video went viral, PCPS said it has ‘been made aware of a video of a teacher singing to an elementary school student and his classmates’.
‘This is now being reviewed by district staff and our HR department. We understand and share the concerns about the teacher’s actions and judgement.
‘As a public school system we serve students and families of all cultures and backgrounds; we expect our employees to always keep that in mind as they interact with others.’
But Prather said she was never contacted by the district before the statement was released.
‘Nobody called me, nobody has notified me or anything,’ she said. ‘But y’all can make a public post on Facebook instead of reaching out to me.’
Stephanie Yocum, president of the Polk Education Association, said that the teacher who sang the ‘funny’ version has since been faced with death threats after the footage spread across social media.
‘Every single person in this country deserves the right to fair investigations and due process,’ Yocum said.
‘And it is a sad state of affairs in this country, no matter what side of an issue you end up being on, that people think that threatening somebody else’s life is acceptable.’
The teacher was not suspended, Yocum said, but Prather said that she hopes to at least get an apology from the staff member.
She said: ‘I feel like she should own up to her actions, [and] I feel like she should write an apology to my son and my family, because it was unacceptable, and my son is going to be traumatized for life.
‘This is going worldwide, and I feel as if she should get fired, because that’s unacceptable.’
