After working in the school district for 11 years, Marlon Anderson was fired from his job as a security guard at Madison West High School in Wisconsin. His offense? Telling a student not to use the N-word.
How can that be a fireable offense? Because Anderson, a black man, used the word himself to tell the student not to say it.
Welcome to the age of “zero tolerance.”
The incident began when Anderson arrived to address an unruly male student, who was also black. The student began to hurl insults at him, including the N-word. Anderson says he admonished the student, “Do not call me that word,” according to the Wisconsin State Journal. Then he made the mistake of repeating the word itself, and thanks to the school’s zero- tolerance policy, he was fired.
“Regardless of context or circumstance, racial slurs are not acceptable in our schools,” school Principal Karen Boran said in an email the day Anderson was let go.
“I had no idea I was going to be terminated because I didn’t understand that zero tolerance meant there is no context attached to the word,” Anderson told the Wisconsin State Journal. “I need the district to answer the question of how can a black man lose his job for telling a student to not call him the N-word.”
Anderson’s firing sparked outrage, with hundreds of students and teachers joining a march last week in protest. More than 16,000 supporters have signed a Change.org petition to have Anderson reinstated.
The president of the Madison School Board, Gloria Reyes, promised to review the board’s policies, though she said in a statement that its “tough stance on racial slurs” was meant to improve the school climate.
By prioritizing its own standard over common sense, however, the school appears to have done the opposite. Zero tolerance policies have become popular over the past two decades as institutions try to signal they are tough on misbehavior while also trying to limit their legal exposure by removing discretion in enforcement. It’s an easy way out for administrators.
After days of bad press, the school reversed its decision. “I’m back!!” Anderson posted to Facebook, adding, “Now we have to address the policy.”
