Trash Head

Over-reacting in the Big D:

When Shamica Neal saw a photo taken of her 11-year-old son with his head in a trash can at Blanton Elementary School in Carrollton, she was outraged.

She later found out that the photo had been taken by school officials around May 5 and was displayed on a bulletin board at the school. Neal then took a photo of it with her cellphone.

She was told that it was part of a reading initiative called "I'd rather be reading," in which students posed in different settings performing different tasks.

"That had nothing to do with reading," Neal said. "It was humiliating for him because kids were teasing him."

Juanita Wallace, president of the Dallas NAACP chapter, also met with school officials along with the mother.

"I thought that was a racist move on their part to have that picture of a little black boy with his head in a trash can," Wallace said.

Yeah! Racist! RACIST, I SAY! Why, it puts me in mind of the bad old days, when whitey would go 'round shoving colored folk's heads into trash cans. A regular epidemic, that was...