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RealTalk x Razor: “It Was Not a Position That Any of Us Wanted to Be in.”

Current Hopkins Student, Anonymous
The latest edition of the RealTalk x Razor collaboration comes from a current Hopkins Student.
“In the 2018-19 school year we had a speaker by the name of Jasiri X. Jasiri X is an African American rapper, activist, and public speaker. He had a way with words and a very engaging speech that resulted in a classic standing ovation. After each Assembly with a distinguished speaker, there is usually a Q&A session. In one of the Q&A sessions, there was a teacher who stood up and asked Jasiri X ‘How do you feel about the use of the word n----- in English classes?’ The teacher was a white man and he said the word with ease as he asked the question. There was a moment of murmuring and turning heads because you could feel the discomfort in the room. I felt the eyes staring at me as everyone waited for one of the few black people in the room to say something. I don’t know if they thought I was going to be mad or upset or anything of that nature. I sat there squirming in my seat and waiting for the session to end. This Q&A session was all the talk for weeks. To this day, as I am a current Hopkins student, people talk about this teacher and how they could not believe he said what he did. I ended up having this teacher at one point in my Hopkins career and I was nervous about what he might ask us to say or do in terms of literature in that class. Thankfully, Jasiri X was very professional about the situation and did not cause any fuss, but it was not a position that any of us wanted to be in. I am not sure whether or not the teacher apologized for using the word when he could have simply said ‘the n-word’.”
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Rose Robertson

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The Razor's Edge reflects the opinion of 4/5 of the editorial board and will not be signed. The Razor welcomes letters to the editor but reserves the right to decide which letters to publish, and to edit letters for space reasons. Unsigned letters will not be published, but names may be withheld on request. Letters are subject to the same libel laws as articles. The views expressed in letters are not necessarily those of the editorial board.
     
The Razor,
 an open forum publication, is published monthly during the school year by students of: 
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New Haven, CT 06515

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