History teacher Joel Mungo is taking legal action after a student allegedly racially harassed him over a six-month period.
Mungo - who has taught at Virginia's Menchville High School for 21 years - first spotted a banana placed at the entrance to his classroom in October 2021.
Over the next six months, the fruit reappeared in the same spot at least once every four weeks.
At Mungo’s request, Menchville High School looked through surveillance footage of the hallway, and CCTV captured a white, tenth-grade student strolling banana-in-hand down the corridor.
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Mungo is one of a handful of Black teachers at the predominantly white school, and speaking to WAVY 10, he said he was ‘so upset by the situation he took a day off work’.
The student in question reportedly refused to fess up to his actions at first, despite being given every opportunity to come clean.
He told Mungo he had ‘no idea what he was talking about’, after which he was then referred to the assistant principal.
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Mungo said that while at first the student’s parents were ‘embarrassed’ by their son’s actions, they quickly became ‘irate’ when informed of their child’s two-day suspension.
Mungo said when explaining his decision to pursue legal action: “It's 2022. Just to have some type of hate crime is absolutely ridiculous. I was sickened.
“I'm just fed up with the racism around, especially at our academic institutions. Coming from the HBCUs and other colleges, the bomb threats, the nooses, the bananas and now it's streaming into public education.”
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The teacher added: “It's time to take a stand and just let people know it will not be tolerated. I know I'm not tolerating it. You have to speak up. You can't allow it to go on because then it will just continue to go on.”
UNILAD has approached Menchville High School for comment.
Speaking to Newsweek about Mungo’s legal case, attorney Ali Shahrestani, Esq said the teacher would likely have more success suing the school than the student himself.
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Shahrestani explained: “If I were counsel in the matter, I would advise the teacher to consider a lawsuit against the school for supporting a hostile work environment via its negligent failure to dole out a reasonable punishment.
“A two-day suspension is what a student should expect when he cheats on a test or gravely insults another student.”
If you have been affected by any of the issues in this article and wish to speak to someone in confidence, contact Stop Hate UK by visiting their website www.stophateuk.org
Aisha Nozari