GWINNETT COUNTY, GA (CBS ATLANTA) -
Civil and human rights organizations protested Tuesday morning after third graders in Gwinnett County were given math homework that referred to slavery and beatings.
The groups intend to call on Superintendent J. Alvin Wilbanks to fire the teachers responsible for what they call a racist assignment.
The protest, which included community activists such as the NAACP, United Youth-Adult Conference, National Action Network, Rainbow Push and others, took place outside of Beaver Ridge Elementary on Beaver Ruin Road in Norcross.
Chanting "fire them now," about two dozen people participated in the march. They carried signs saying "Our history did not begin with slavery."
"This goes beyond insensitivity," said Derrick Boazman, a community activist.
"The notion of this being insensitive, tap them on the hand and let them go?" said protestor Joe Beasley. "They should've known better."
The Gwinnett County Public School system launched a full investigation after some teachers at the school gave the questionable homework to their students last week.
District spokeswoman Sloan Roach said the students were learning about former slave Frederick Douglass in social studies, and the teachers were trying to incorporate that lesson into math homework.
Christopher Braxton told CBS Atlanta he was in shock when he looked at his son's assignment.
One of the questions read: "Each tree had 56 oranges. If eight slaves pick them equally, then how much would each slave pick?"
"I can just put it in three letters," Braxton said. "Why? Why try to relive and bring something like that or whatever. That really had nothing to do with a math equation or homework or anything."
Another question read: "If Frederick got two beatings per day, how many beatings did he get in one week?"
Braxton and his wife met with the principal of Beaver Ridge on Tuesday morning but said they did not get much information about who developed the homework questions.
Roach said the district recognized the questions shouldn't have been used in the math assignment.
"They're just not appropriate in any way and we understand where parents and others in the community are coming from," she said.
The NAACP's State President Edward Dubois said the teachers who came up with the questions should face punishment.
"We think that it is disgusting, that in 2011 that students would be given homework that would even equate, at least have language of slavery," DuBois said. "We think it's demeaning to the parents and that the teacher must be reprimanded or at best fired."
Roach said the district is investigating the incident and is trying to figure out why some teachers handed out the homework while others didn't.
"At this point, we're still conducting our human resources investigation and taking statements, trying to determine what additional action we may need to take as a school system from a human resources standpoint," said Roach.
The district said there have been no previous incidents of offensive homework being sent home with Beaver Ridge students.
Stay with CBSAtlanta.com as this story develops.
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