The Birthday Song That Almost Cost A Florida Teacher Her Job
The song has been in use for years, but one mom thought it wasn't funny at all.
Krakenimages.com | Shutterstock Singing the “Happy Birthday” song to a kid on their birthday is a pretty standard thing to do. One teacher added on to the song, though, and now some are saying she took it too far.
According to WFAA and 11 Alive, Kimberly Langston is a teacher at Floral Avenue Elementary in Bartow, Florida. She’s made it a tradition to sing “Happy Birthday” to any student who marks the special day in her class, but it quickly turned potentially sinister when Langston added a second verse to the song.
The teacher sang a birthday song that almost cost her job.
Legend Whitaker is one of the students in Langston’s class. He recently turned 6 years old, so Langston led the class in a round of the typical “Happy Birthday” song. After they finished, Langston asked Legend, “Would you like the funny song now that I sing to you?” Legend nodded.
“Happy birthday to you,” Langston sang. “You live in the zoo. You look like a monkey, and you smell like one, too.” Langston’s “funny” song elicited a few laughs before she instructed her class to clap for Legend’s birthday. Langston filmed the whole thing and sent it to Legend’s mom, Desarae Prather.
Prather was livid. She and her son are both Black, and Langston saying her son looked like a “monkey” did not sit well with her. “I automatically said, 'That’s unacceptable,'” she said. “And I don’t feel, I don’t think nothing’s funny about it.”
Langston claimed she has been singing this version of the song to students for 22 years.
An official report from the school district, Polk County Public Schools, indicated that she has sung the “funny song” for over two decades to students of multiple races. She was reprimanded for “a lack of judgment in photographing and relaying several student images without parental consent,” but the district determined disciplinary action did not need to be taken because of the song itself.
The district released a statement, which read in part, “PCPS has conducted a thorough and careful review of this incident. That review, which included statements from students and staff, found that while the teacher did sing an alternate version of the ‘Happy Birthday’ song, there is no evidence to support or suggest that the teacher acted with any ill intent, or in an effort to offend or disparage the student, or any group.”
As for Prather and the rest of Legend’s family, they plan to sue the district. Their lawyer, Terri Hill, said, “Because we say it’s a song and it’s gone on forever — that doesn’t justify it in today’s times.”
Langston probably didn’t mean anything inappropriate by singing this version of the song.
In an essay for The Conversation, Wolf D. Hund of the University of Hamburg and Charles W. Mills of Northwestern University explained the usage of these kinds of terms in racist contexts. “Animalization remains a malicious and effective instrument of such a form of desocialization and dehumanization,” they said. “Simianization is a version of this strategy, which historically manifested a lethal combination of sexism and racism.”
Ron Lach | Pexels
Referring to people of color with terms like these is hurtful and wrong, but commenters on 11 Alive’s YouTube video argued about Langston’s intent. “This is absolutely ridiculous,” one person said. “I’ve heard this a million times. It has nothing to do with race.” Someone else said, “This is not appropriate for anyone, especially a child, in front of students. Unacceptable, disrespectful, and just nasty.”
Truthfully, it does not appear that Langston was using this as a racial slur. Kids have been singing this verse to each other for years, and Langston likely thought that it was just a silly take on the song to make students laugh. However, the racial connotations cannot be ignored, and Prather had every right to contact the school with her concerns. Suing the district does feel like a bit much, though.
Mary-Faith Martinez is a writer with a bachelor’s degree in English and Journalism who covers news, psychology, lifestyle, and human interest topics.
