DeKalb NAACP: Movie shown to DSA students prompts outcry from parents

The DeKalb NAACP met with DeKalb Schools Superintendent Stephen Green and other district officials to discuss parents’ complaints about an offensive movie that was recently shown to students in a French language class at the DeKalb School of the Arts.

Representatives of the civil rights organization said the movie, “The Triplets of Belleville,” depicted an animated caricature of bare-breasted African women in various dance routines. The organization called the movie racist, sexist, and misogynistic.

Parents contacted the school, the School Board, superintendent and the DeKalb NAACP to express their outrage

NAACP President Teresa Hardy and Lance Hammonds, who serves as the NAACP’s Education Chair, met with Superintendent R. Stephen Green on Aug. 31 to discuss the issue. Green, DSA principal, Susan McCaule, and School Board Chair Melvin Johnson expressed their regrets that the movie had been shown. The French class teacher apologized to students, and Board member Stan Jester affirmed that moving forward, movies would not be shown before being previewed by school officials.

While restating that personnel matters cannot be publicly discussed, he did state that the matter will not go unaddressed, Hardy said. He also expressed his appreciation for the parents’ offer to assist the French class teacher in providing more appropriate teaching resources and for their continued involvement and support of DSA.

Hardy thanked Green for the district’s responsiveness to the parents’ concerns and for the cooperative relationship with the NAACP. She suggested the District conduct certified professional development training in the areas of cultural and diversity awareness.

The NAACP said it would remain vigilant as the School District creates, maintains, and extends its cultural and diversity training among its faculty and staff.