Surrey high school teacher recounts incidents of racism in schools
Posted June 7, 2020 10:02 am.
Last Updated June 7, 2020 10:10 am.
SURREY (NEWS 1130) — A Surrey high school teacher is speaking out over racist incidents he has encountered in the past.
Michael Musherure, a teacher who has substituted at Semiahmoo Secondary, says he has been called every racial slur in the book and has even been threatened to be shot.
In light of the growing anti-black racism protests around the world, Musherure has felt it is time to speak out and is sharing his story on social media.
He tells CityNews, racism at Semiahmoo Secondary has been brushed under the rug and is recalling an incident where an agitated student refused to do classwork, his reasoning being that Musherure was black.
He says things escalated when that student was taken to the principal’s office.
“When the kid reached the office, he said he was going to go get a gun and shoot me. That’s why I was put on code yellow, and then later because they had to get the police to come and remove the student, That’s when they put the school under code red,” he says.
The most shocking part of the incident for Musherure was the school’s response.
Throughout his career as an educator, @musherure1 says he’s encountered racism in many forms. He’s chosen to share a particularly disturbing incident he says occurred in 2013 when he was teaching at Semiahmoo Secondary in South #Surrey. @CityNewsVAN @NEWS1130 @BT_Vancouver pic.twitter.com/whicFgnIYW
— Ashley Grace Burr (@AshleyBurr_) June 6, 2020
He claims he was kept out of conversations held by the school about the incident and was horrified by the threat.
“The principal had constructed an absolutely different narrative that did not include me. I was horrified. And she said “it was an agitated student, and that was it,” he says.
“And she never even came to me to ask me how I was feeling.”
Musherure says he didn’t bring it up at the time, fearing repercussions from the school district, but adds that’s changed due to the current anti-racism movement.
A day after Musherure posted his original post, the Surrey School District responded tweeting, “Racism has no place in our society and we must stand together against ongoing systematic racism, injustice and inequality.”
Racism has no place in our society and we must stand together against ongoing systemic racism, injustice and inequality. Please see our district's commitment below.#blacklivesmatter #sd36learn #SurreyBC #WhiteRock pic.twitter.com/wGt05LuN4L
— Surrey Schools (@Surrey_Schools) June 5, 2020
