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A fifth grade teacher at Chapelfield Elementary School in Gahanna, Ohio thought it would be appropriate to assign a black student to play a slave in their social studies classroom activity. That student, Nikko Burton, was assigned to play a slave in their fake slave auction where the students of the class were divided into two sections: slaves and masters.

Nikko, feeling uncomfortable with the situation, refused to participate in the pretend slave auction and was sent back to his seat. “I ended up being a slave,” Nikko told Blackvoices.com, “At first I didn’t care, but after people were bidding on people it kind of made me a little mad and stuff.”

I would definitely feel the same way, had I been placed in that same situation as Nikko. The students of the class that were assigned to play the “slave masters” were analyzing the students who were assigned to play “slaves” to see if they were worth bidding on in the fake slave auction.

After school that day, Nikko went home and told his mother who immediately complained to the school. The most shocking part of this story is that Nikko’s mother was told that this activity was apart of the state’s required curriculum!

Wow! What do you think about this situation?

Read the rest of Nikko’s story here.