Activists Apply More Pressure Against Staten Island Assistant Principal for Racist Post

On July 2, 2020 The Equity Alliance of Staten Island (EASI) conducted a virtual press conference addressing the racist Facebook post by Deborah Morse-Cunningham, the Assistant Principal of New Dorp High School. Her rant also sparked focus on longstanding institutionalized racist practices in the education system.

The societal issue with some people and educators like Morse-Cunningham is that they usually vent racist ideologies privately amongst the like-minded where it is enthusiastically accepted and cosigned. Consequently, people of this mindset never get properly “schooled”, illuminated or put in their place. And after fortifying and nurturing toxic thinking unchecked by any intelligent moral high ground, it gets emboldened to the point of public rants for all to see without shame or remorse.  The most disturbing aspect of the post was the position of the poster; again, Morse-Cunningham is the assistant principal of New Dorp High School who oversees and evaluates other teachers.

Morse-Cunningham’s post was unhinged. It carefully doesn’t refer to race specifically but the dog whistle was deafening. Reading between the lines the post characterizes black and brown people as living in public housing, having lots of kids, not having jobs, living on public assistance, and running out to protest with the arrogant and vacuous implication there is no justifiable reason for any protests. So, all the black and brown students who will go on to do great things had to read what their assistant principal thinks of them regardless of who they are as individuals or what they will achieve in life. And the ones who are struggling and living in poverty most likely due to many generational disadvantages were denigrated. Additionally, Morse-Cunningham isn’t understanding that a very large percentage of protestors in the States and around the world are white people.

Even as children, black and brown people have to deal with things that are not realized by the dominant society. It doesn’t matter if they are the offspring of doctors, lawyers, or hardworking educators, black and brown people are still often lumped together, marginalized, labeled and stigmatized with stereotypes.

Deborah Morse-Cunningham exposed herself to be a “Karen” in high position in a school and lacks the empathy and understanding of the deeper historical societal issues amiss. Someone presiding over young students while secretly judging the black and brown ones with racist thoughts is very problematic. Her words were a bigoted and unnecessary attack that was very hurtful for so many young people and parents in the community. A good-natured, clear-thinking and well-adjusted person respectful of their position as assistant principal would never have posted what she posted. Offering no public follow up statement, it appears she may not even understand why she was wrong. In fact, on Staten Island she most likely has supporters that agree with her because they are just as bigoted and callous. Deborah Morse-Cunningham’s post was a racist dog whistle to other people who feel the same way, which is why punitive action for something like this may be slow on Staten Island. However, groups like The Equity Alliance of Staten Island or EASI are determined to combat this regressive thinking that many people in society and the entire world has had enough of.

Morse-Cunningham is an example of white fragility triggered by the new wave of energy against anti-black racism and the civil rights momentum of the day. She’s an educator, but ironically people like her don’t seem to know, care or understand what happened for the past several hundred years to present. She speaks of privilege, but from a confused limited perspective. People like her live in communities where she has the privilege to never have to think about or discuss anything she’d rather not discuss. She has the privilege to decide other people’s American experience isn’t what it is—because she says so. There are many people, presumably including Morse-Cunningham, who have lived comfortably in systemic institutionalized racism, unfairness and subjection of non-white people and are completely apathetic to its existence.  And so, the current protests against pervasive societal issues like police brutality cause triggered people lost in their own perspective like Deborah Morse-Cunningham to lash out.

EASI called for the Department of Education (DOE) to take swift action against the assistant principal and she is currently under investigation. Part of an open letter from EASI to the DOE reads, “The post by Morse-Cunningham further deepens the divide between Black, Latinx, and White, rich and poor communities and bears naked the problem Staten Island schools face.”

In response to the pressure mounting against the assistant principal, DOE Spokeswoman Danielle Filson said, “The DOE stands against racism and schools must be safe, inclusive learning environments and this incident is being investigated,” She continued, “We thank The Equity Alliance of Staten Island for their advocacy.”