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07th May 2021

Teacher suspended for telling class George Floyd ‘would still be alive’ if he complied with cops

Claudia McInerney

“Do not fight with the cops,” Alaska high school teacher tells students

A teacher from a high school in Alaska has been suspended after she told her class via Zoom that George Floyd ‘would still be alive today’ if he complied with the Minneapolis police officers.

The teacher from Lathrop High School in Fairbanks, referred to as ‘Ms Gardner’, made the comments during a discussion with students about Black people being killed by police officers.

She said: “If George Floyd had at the beginning… when they got him out of the car and went to put him in the police car… if he had just sidled into the car and slid in there and let them put his legs in, he would be alive today.”

“And you know that’s true,” she told her students.

However, during the discussion, the Alaska high school teacher admitted that Chauvin “went too far.”

The former Minneapolis police officer, Derek Chauvin, was found guilty last month of Floyd’s murder, after he knelt on his neck for more than nine minutes.

As reported by the Mail Online, the Fairbanks North Star Borough School District sent out a letter to parents last week, informing them that the high school teacher in the video clip had been placed on leave, whilst awaiting investigation.

The teacher told her class: “If any of you find yourselves in a situation where you are, justly or unjustly, being addressed by the police and ordered to do something, please comply.”

She said that is “what you have to do to stay alive,” whether you are “white” or “Black.”

“Do not fight with the cops. Don’t try and run away,” the teacher added.

She continued: “I’m an old white lady and if the cops came up to me and said ma’am, put your hands behind your back, you’re going to jail, I’m putting my hands behind my back.”

The teacher said that she would then call her husband and tell the officer that she has a gun attached to her ankle, which she claimed she has a concealed carry permit for.

The high school teacher admitted that she had “worn a gun in public” and will continue to do so whenever she does not feel safe.

“If i’m going somewhere where I don’t feel safe, you better believe i’m taking my gun,” the teacher said.

In response to a student’s question, she told her class that she “can’t wear it to work” as she would “get fired.”