OK, this is a weird one. Liberals and Muslims are outraged because a school in Pennsylvania used what appeared to be kinda like Middle Eastern garb on the attacked in a school shooting drill.
Watch below:
From the Hill:
A Pennsylvania school district has come under fire for an active shooter drill video that had a teacher pretending to be a shooter and wearing what was meant to be a Middle Eastern headdress.
The video, which was filmed in January, shows an active shooter drill intended to practice emergency protocol and “build confidence in the staff members’ awareness of how to respond to an emergency,” the Penn-Trafford School District, which is located just east of Pittsburgh, wrote in an online statement posted on Wednesday.
In the video, two teacher volunteers were given “costumes and accessories” from an active shooter drill consultant group to “alter their appearance so that they were not readily recognizable,” the statement reads.
One volunteer, seen in screen grabs of the video that were posted on social media, wore a zip-up jacket and “long blonde wig with a scarf tied around his neck and head and a paintball/tactical mask over his face,” the statement says.
During the roughly seven-minute video, what appear to be armed police officers confront the man in the headdress, pointing their weapons at him.
Ehhh, I mean, he wore a blonde wig. I mean, the whole thing is kinda stupid. There are PLENTY of school shootings completely unrelated to Islamism, so why limit it to that? The school says they didn’t intend it to look Middle Eastern:
The district says there was “no intent to represent any particular culture or religion.”
“PT prides itself on instilling respect for others, in its students and staff and has conducted numerous trainings on cultural diversity,” the statement says. “The District strongly believes in diversity and inclusion and strives to provide its students an educational environment reflective of the world community.”
I would probably believe them if it wasn’t for that scarf, which definitely looks like it’s meant to look Middle Eastern. You can see it really well in this screengrab by none other than Al Jazeera:
A Pennsylvania school district did a shooting safety drill with a teacher dressed in an Arab headscarf, or kaffiyeh.
— AJ+ (@ajplus) May 16, 2019
It says it was part of a "costume" not meant to represent a specific culture.
Local Muslim groups called it "appalling."
(Image: Penn-Trafford School District) pic.twitter.com/qJ7JB6XDtA
Overall, dumb idea by the school, probably an overreaction from overly sensitive outrage-mob members. Let’s all be smarter, people.