Cathleen Schandelmeier-Bartels never realized making one phone call would get her fired. While working as a cultural program coordinator at the South Shore Cultural Center in 2006, Schandelmeier-Bartels, a White woman, allegedly observed a Black woman spanking her 6-year-old nephew (who had been written up for bad behavior several times prior) in a Chicago-area park bathroom. She reported the incident to the Illinois Department of Children and Family Service only after going to another program coordinator and her supervisor, both Black women, who allegedly told Schandelmeier-Bartels that this is how African-Americans discipline their children, according to the Chicago Sun-Times. Schandelmeier-Bartels claims she was fired for taking her complaint higher and a federal jury recently agreed, awarding her $200,000 in a discrimination case.
Is spanking children a “Black” thing?—WLW