Teacher Is Slammed For Email About Suspicious Black Man At Starbucks

Jaap Arriens/NurPhoto via Getty Images

A Community Becomes Outraged

One San Diego elementary school principal is under fire for an email that was sent out to parents that people said was racially insensitive.

According to The San Diego Union-Tribune, Principal Donna Tripi of La Jolla Elementary School sent an email last month warning about a man who allegedly stared at and followed a parent’s daughter at a local Starbucks. In her email, Tripi describes the man as “an African-American male about 30 years old, about 6’1”-6’2”, dressed in all black and a hooded sweatshirt.”

The email gave parents security tips “to keep your children safe,” including contacting the police “if you see something that doesn’t feel right.”

Many argued that Tripi’s email was not detailed enough, leaving people with a basic description of an “African-American” male which could lead to profiling and stereotypes of Black people.

Tripi eventually sent a second email apologizing for her wording in the first one.

“My email was a mistake. While it is critical to keep our school family safe, the way I communicated didn’t provide enough specifics to identify the individual, but could easily lead to unnecessary and harmful reactions against other members of our community,” Tripi said. “African American males continue to face discrimination in our society every day. The thought that I unintentionally contributed to that climate with a vague email is something for which I owe our community an apology.”

Despite Tripi’s apology, she still defended the parent’s fears about the Black guy, saying she’s “confident the concern they described was not imagined” and that the parent was reasonable in thinking the man was following her daughter.

The school is set to hold a forum on Monday at 6 p.m. about the whole situation.

But some people, like André Branch — the president of the San Diego Branch of the NAACP — were still not satisfied.

Branch had just as much issue with Tripi’s second email as her first one. ““She repeats the description of the man, mentioning his race, but not that of the parents or the children,” Branch said. “This repetition reinforces the idea that the parents and their children have something to fear from African-American men.”

La Jolla’s racial make-up doesn’t help the situation. Out of 535 kids enrolled in the school last fall, five were Black, according to state data. The school also didn’t employ any Black teachers last school year. Out of the 31 teachers, 28 were White.

The school community forum on Monday will be facilitated by Omar Passons, a Black attorney and community leader. Passons said he reached out to the school district after he read the first email Tripi sent, which was posted to social media.

“I am an African-American man who’s a little bit shorter than 6’1”, but I’ve been in workout clothes and a hoodie in La Jolla after working out,” Passons said. “The description that was included in the email was just really, really general.”

Passons and activists in the community hope the forum will bring more awareness and racial sensitivity to the neighborhood.