Head of Providence Teachers Union Issues Apology for Social Media Post Alleging Racism
Friday, January 10, 2020
Providence Teachers Union President Maribeth Calabro has issued an apology to Warwick Public Schools Superintendent Phil Thornton -- and the Pilgrim High School community -- after she had posted and commented on allegations from another Facebook user that alleged racist behavior by those associated with Pilgrim at a recent girls basketball game.
The allegations sparked an investigation by Warwick schools. The claims of racism have been denied to date by both teams involved in the basketball game that took place this week — Warwick’s Pilgrim High School and Providence’s Mount Pleasant High School.
Thornton did not respond to request for comment Thursday night.
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January 9th, 2020
Superintendent Thornton,
Yesterday morning, as you all know, I saw two posts on Facebook regarding the girls’ basketball game between Mt Pleasant High School and Pilgrim High School. The first post was from Coach Pinto, asking about the appropriateness of “barking” at girls during a game. He removed the post shortly thereafter. I scrolled further in the feed and came across another post written by a female that discussed the same game and behaviors and language that were in the author's view “racist." They removed their post shortly after I posted on my page.
Both posts left me upset, angry and frustrated and I did what I had been taught never to do, which is put something in writing and send it, before sitting on it. I didn’t sit on it, I didn’t think on it, I didn’t investigate or even ask questions. I reacted, without thought of truth, or consequence. In my heart and in my head if my students, our students, had been wronged then I wanted it made right. In my heart and in my head, this was not out of the realm of possibility and our girls needed someone to speak up. But in my haste, I did not do my due diligence, I did not ask those that were actually present at the game, the fans on both sides, the coaches, the AD, the students, the athletes, the coaches. I hit send and it was a terrible mistake.
While I don’t personally like the idea of barking at female students during a sporting event or at anytime for that matter, I have been told by the Mt Pleasant AD that the Coach for Pilgrim and the AD for Pilgrim addressed that issue. As for the post regarding the racial slurs, and commentary. I never should have re-posted or copied and pasted until I was 110% positive, with evidence to back it up, that it was a fact.
That being said, to the girls’ basketball team, parents’ coaches, staff, AD, principal, fans and students and superintendent of Pilgrim High School, I apologize for re-posting something without having absolute evidence of its truth. I apologize for not asking questions. I apologize for not doing my due diligence before I copied and pasted someone else’s words as I was not there and witnessed nothing. In my post I asked that the incident be investigated, and it was by many parties. They all concluded that there was no racial incident, no slurs and no unsportsmanlike conduct.
I preach to students and my son that social media can be dangerous and can get you into trouble. Today the teacher became the student. My sincerest apologies to the Pilgrim Community.
Respectfully,
Maribeth Calabro
{image_2}On Wednesday, Calabro had posted on Facebook to share the following:
"I just copied and pasted this from a post on someone's page. This is what the HELL is WRONG with this state and country...are you frigging kidding me??? I want to know, I demand to know what the Pilgrim principal, the RIISL and the Commissioner have to say about this abhorrent, disgusting display of blatant racism. BTW, this was the SECOND post I read about the game. The first one spoke of fans, grunting, and making 'animal noises" at OUR girls, OUR students. What an absolute disgusting display..."
'Went to the girls basketball game last night at Pilgrim. I have never been more disgusted by human beings and teenagers in my life. The teams at Pilgrim called the Mount Pleasant students the n word, ratchet, they said go back to your ghetto. They pushed the mount teams around and the mount students said nothing. They took it like the strong women they are. Not only was it the team, but it was the crowd, the parents, and the refs. How totally disgusting'
The Warwick School Department began investigating allegations that fans used racist language — including the "n-word"— when the Mt. Pleasant Girls Basketball team played at Pilgrim High School in Warwick on Tuesday.
Warwick schools Superintendent Phil Thornton told GoLocalProv that while a complaint was not brought specifically to him, that reports on social media prompted him to take action and conduct an investigation.
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