White headmaster ordered Black US student to kneel, apologise 'the African way’, suspended

The school’s acting headmaster, Brother James Conway, released a statement on Tuesday, saying St. Martin neither condones nor accepts the actions.

The White headmaster of a Catholic school in New York was suspended after he allegedly told a Black student to kneel and apologise “the African way”. The student’s parent, Trisha Paul, told New York Daily News about the February 25 incident when her son, Trayson, was reprimanded by his English literature teacher for working on a wrong assignment.

Trayson’s mom called the school and asked the headmaster whether forcing students to kneel was standard disciplinary practice. (Google Maps)

Paul said that the teacher ripped up the paper and marched him to the office of John Holian, the headmaster of St. Martin de Porres Marianist school on Long Island, where the sixth-grader was ordered to get on his knees and apologise, reported the local daily. Trayson’s mom called the school on March 1 and asked the headmaster whether forcing students to kneel was standard disciplinary practice.

According to Paul, Holian accepted that it was not a standard practice but added that he had learned it from a Nigerian father who called it an “African way” of apologising. “Once he started mentioning this African family, that’s when it just clicked... I felt there was no relevance at all. Is he generalizing that everyone who is Black is African?” Paul, who is Haitian American, was quoted by the newspaper as saying.

The school’s acting headmaster, Brother James Conway, released a statement on Tuesday, saying St. Martin neither condones nor accepts the actions of Holian. Conway added that the incident doesn’t reflect the school’s “ long, established values or the established protocols” regarding student-related issues.

“We have launched an internal review of the incident and restated in the clearest terms what is the established and approved practice for student-faculty interaction. Our most important mission here at St. Martin’s is to provide our children with the spiritual and educational foundation that will allow them to lead exemplary lives,” the statement read.

(With AP inputs)