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McCoy said Taylor was “hanging out with the guy who was wanted on charges” when cops knocked and “he fired at them, and they fired back.” The teacher said twice referring to Taylor’s shooting death that she “put herself in that position” by choosing a criminal boyfriend. “You know if you hang out with people who are criminals, and they shoot at a cop, you’re likely to get caught in the crossfire,” McCoy said. “It does not matter what color your skin is.” Students in the class attempted to correct their ill-informed teacher, explaining that it was Taylor’s ex-boyfriend that cops were allegedly searching for and they went to the wrong house to find him.
The video has since been viewed hundreds of thousands of times on social media. McCoy issued her apology the same day she made the repulsive statements. “I want to apologize sincerely publicly for the things I said today in my class that had to do with something that I was very ignorant about,” she said in another video. “I’m just heartbroken that I said something so rude and disrespectful, and I want my students to know I really truly, truly apologize and feel just heartsick over the distrust and the hurt that I caused when I made these comments.”
Not only did the man police were searching for live at a different address than Taylor, he was already in custody in Louisville. Attorneys for Taylor’s family alleged in a lawsuit that the raid that killed Taylor was linked to a gentrification plan in the western Louisville area she lived in. In the lawsuit The Louisville Courier-Journal obtained, attorneys said Taylor was asleep after midnight on March 13, when police woke her up with banging at her door. “These men banging on the door would not announce themselves. These men ignored Breonna’s shouts for them to say who they were. These men had no probable cause or other legal basis to enter and search Breonna’s home. But these men, all in dark plain clothes, did so anyways, breaking down Breonna’s door with guns drawn,” attorneys said in the complaint. “Despite Breonna’s significant other trying to protect her, Breonna was gunned down by the men breaking into her home.
“And while she tried to hang on for her life, she was then shot by another man who was firing blindly through windows,” the Taylor family’s legal team said in the complaint. “Breonna fought for her life for more than five minutes before finally succumbing to her injuries.”
Police shot her eight times. No drugs were found in her apartment. Social media users are demanding McCoy be fired. Paul Forbes, a director in the New York City Department of Education’s Expanded Success Initiative, weighed in on McCoy’s video on Twitter Friday. The Expanded Success Initiative is a “research and development initiative” focused on improving the lives of Black and Latino students. “This is unbelievably troubling,” Forbes tweeted. “Every day, I’m wondering more and more…just what will it take?? A life is gone. And this teacher, #SusanMcCoy is saying this on February 26th. The 9th anniversary of #TrayvonMartin’s murder. Wow…just…wow!”
Trayvon Martin, 17, was wearing a hoodie on his way back from a convenience store to purchase candy and juice on Feb. 26, 2012 when George Zimmerman, who considered himself a neighborhood watch volunteer, shot and killed the child. Zimmerman alleged he felt threatened, and a jury believed him, finding Zimmerman not guilty on all counts against him.
“I don’t know if this school will hold Susan McCoy accountable without public pressure to do so,” author and National Association of Black Journalists member Shanita Hubbard tweeted on Friday. “Please help me amplify this story by r/t. She does not deserve to be a teacher!”
Poet and essayist Aurielle Marie said in a Twitter thread she’s a former student of McCoy and the woman is a racist. “Susan McCoy is a forensic science teacher who believes that Black ppl deserve to die if they’re associated ‘with criminals’. A teacher who think that centering Black lives during Black history month is a classroom distraction. I survived her and her classroom. She was horrible,” Aurielle Marie said.
She added that McCoy ”has been allowed to malign Black kids for decades” because of “systemic antiBlackness” and because Cobb County Schools “deprioritized working class families in South Cobb, who were less affluent than East and North Cobb districts,” “This is about modern segregation + violent anti-blackness,” Aurielle Marie said. “I’ve talked to a few teachers + PHS students. No one is surprised that it was Susan McCoy speaking like this to a largely Black class. No one is surprised it’s Susan McCoy blaming a Black girl for her own death. She should no longer be allowed to negatively impact any student.”
Cobb County Schools said in a statement Dennis obtained that it is “aware of the allegations” and investigating. “As a District, we expect every member of our staff to treat each other with respect and understanding,” the school district said in the statement. Pebblebrook High School Principal Dana Giles said in a letter Dennis obtained that the school serves a diverse community of teachers and students and that “diversity of thought, experiences, ethnicity, and race” make the community “one of the best places to live and learn in our country.”
“I am confident this situation will be investigated, and any appropriate District policy will be applied,” she said. “We will show empathy and support for each other, respectfully, as long as I am the Principal of Pebblebrook High School.”
RELATED: New complaint ties Breonna Taylor warrant to Louisville gentrification plan
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