Washington school lesson on cotton gin not meant to 'harm' Black students, investigation finds

An investigation into a middle school history lesson in Washington state found no racial intent when a teacher asked her students to clean cotton – including a pair of Black twin sisters. 

However, Gilliam-Cathcart’s investigation determined that the teacher did not intend to "harm" the girls with the lesson, The Spokesman-Review reported.  The investigation did not, though, examine a related incident in which Assistant Principal Taylor Skidmore offered to instead remove the girls from the class if they were uncomfortable, and may have used the words "separate" or "segregate." Feazell claimed that the offer avoided the issue of addressing concerns of racism in the classroom.