An early childcare center in Delaware is being investigated after parents said that a Black History Month-inspired yoga lesson was insensitive and culturally offensive.
In a short video shared by a parent on Facebook, a yoga instructor teaching a course at the McIlvaine Early Childhood Center is filmed combining yoga positions with her understanding of how Africans were brought into America and enslaved, Delaware Online reported.
“African people came to America on boats to become slaves,” the instructor said in the video. “So here's the great big country of Africa. They crossed the Atlantic to come over to America. So right now, I need you to get into your boat pose.”
The parent that recorded the video can be heard in the background correcting the teacher’s account of history, saying “Came? We were stolen.”
At one point, the yoga instructor tries to explain the plight of Black people who were enslaved and robbed of their liberties.
“Africans were treated very poorly, even though they farmed the land and plowed the fields to make America beautiful and help grow our food,” the teacher continues. “They worked in the fields all day. If you’re at home, you can try the plow pose.”
Parents of students who attend the center were outraged over the insensitive lesson.
"It's 2021, you'd think this stuff would have ended a long time ago," parent Jessie Welch told Delaware Online.
"I would want my kid to understand the true facts of what [slavery] was and what happened, but, of course, at their level," Welch added.
The concerned parent expressed that the yoga instructor’s idea of slavery was akin to Africans being invited over on a cruise ship.
“African people did not come over here to be slaves — they were stolen from their country. But yet, she made it sound like they came over on a cruise ship. That’s just wrong,” Welch said.
Other community members and parents took to social media to voice their displeasure.
One man wrote a comment under a post with the video, saying that the lesson was a “Perfect example to why kids end up confused [.] our communities must teach the truth [.] This teacher trying to paint slavery as something little.”
Another person quipped that it seemed odd to pair yoga and history lessons together.
“HOW DO YOU COME UP WITH YOGA, IN A HISTORY CLASS… THIS WOMAN SEEMS MORE OFF THAN ANYTHING ELSE. I DON'T UNDERSTAND HOW THESE PEOPLE ARE ALWAYS DOING WEIRD &%$,” the person wrote in response to the video.
Parents also expressed that they were grateful the video surfaced because it could help expose questionable lesson plans taught during virtual school.
“One of the best things about virtual learning is that it exposes ignorance like this. Just imagine what damage this teacher has done in the classroom,” a community member wrote.
On Feb. 26, officials with the Caesar Rodney School District released a statement confirming that they are investigating the incident. The school district also denounced the center’s lesson as “unacceptable and not consistent with” school district values, according to local ABC affiliate WMDT.
