BANNED

Matt worked at Marvin’s but his girlfriend Jamie was still in High school. Every afternoon he would pick her up from school. This particular afternoon as he sat in line, he had forgotten about the walkie talkie he used at work being in his car. It was still on and he began to hear the teachers and the principal as they directed school traffic. For some reason beyond comprehension, he picked up the walkie talkie not thinking they could really hear him and said…. “Mr. Carter is a (“N” word)….Wrong… everybody with a walkie talkie heard him including the African American Principal, Mr. Carter. By the next morning, Matt’s girlfriend was called into the office and interrogated by Mr. Carter as he accused Matt of being a skin head. Matt did have a shaved head but so did most all the guys at that time. The school notified his employer. The owner of Marvin’s called Matt into his office and asked him to explain what happened. His black supervisor also attended the meeting. (As he approached this part of his story while relaying it to me, I could already see “Six on Your Side” showing up at my front door for an interview with his racist family. I knew at this point he would be fired, especially with his supervisor standing there… But no…when he shared his racial slur, his supervisor slapped his leg, threw his head back and let out a hearty laugh. In the end, Matt wasn’t fired, not even suspended. But til this day he is permanently banned from Clay Chalkville High School.