© 2024 WLRN
MIAMI | SOUTH FLORIDA
Play Live Radio
Next Up:
0:00
0:00
0:00 0:00
Available On Air Stations
Education

How An Ethnic Slur Spurred A Broward Father's Activism

Charles Trainor Jr
/
Miami Herald

Youssef Wardani never considered himself an activist.

He’s a fairly soft-spoken software engineer. He’s very organized and believes everything should have a plan from start to finish.

Activism for him was a sudden evolution  sparked by a Broward teacher who called his 14-year-old son a "raghead Taliban” and the bureaucracy of a school system he felt ignored him when he demanded accountability.

His son, Deyab-Houssein Wardani, 14, is a ninth grader at Cypress Bay High School in Weston. Everyone calls him D.H.

D.H. is a Boy Scout, a Shakespeare enthusiast and lover of languages.

He’s enrolled in French class at Cypress Bay High. And it was in this class that his teacher Maria Valdes -- out of the blue -- called him an ethnic slur.

“I walked into class with my hood on and she said, ‘Oh no, the raghead Taliban is here.” he said. “And everyone laughed.”

Over several days, Valdes called D.H. “Taliban” and “terrorista” -- Spanish for terrorist -- according to a Broward school board investigation.

D.H. says he knew he was being insulted, but he didn’t really know what the word “Taliban” meant so he asked his parents.

“I always tried to shield him from everything ugly in the world as much as I can,” Wardani said from their Weston home in a gated community with perfectly-manicured lawns and placid man-made lakes.

Valdes’ insulting comments to D.H. shattered Wardani as a parent. He never thought he would have to protect his son from a teacher.

Credit Nadege Green / WLRN
/
WLRN
Deyab-Houssein Wardani and his father, Youseff Wardani, in their Weston home.

A FATHER'S PROTEST

“When I get upset, I get upset,” Wardani said.

He scheduled a meeting with Valdes. He said she told him she was joking when she called his son a terrorist. She apologized, but it felt forced, Wardani said.

Valdes did not respond to requests for comment.

Wardani filed a report with the police; they told him this wasn't a hate crime. He called the FBI. He emailed the White House.

He contacted Broward school officials many times. At first, he says, he was ignored. Then, the school board said discipline was forthcoming.

Meanwhile, Wardani led a protest in front of the school board’s headquarters where about a dozen people chanted “Justice for Deyab-Houssein! Justice for Deyab-Houssein!”

This month, Valdes was punished for calling Wardani’s son an ethnic slur. The Broward County School Board voted to suspend Valdes for five days without pay and to have her take diversity training.

It took about a month for the vote to happen.

“I believe we handled this case appropriately, and I urge the board to approve the recommended disciplinary action,” Superintendent Robert Runcie said at the meeting.

Runcie, who recounted his own experiences dealing with racism as a black man, defended the school board’s actions saying the matter was handled with urgency.

“I take a lot of exception to any statement or suggestion that somehow this administration and school board did nothing or was ever lax in our response,” Runcie said.

Valdes, the French teacher, can appeal her five-day suspension per union rules.

“Something is wrong with that group in there,” Wardani said just after the school board vote.

He says initially all he wanted a genuine apology from Valdes and for the school district to use this as a teaching moment for students to learn about diversity -- particularly about Muslims -- to counter Valdes’ disparaging comments.

He said that didn’t happen.

NOT GOING AWAY

Wardani calls the possible suspension “a five-day vacation” and is now asking for Valdes to be fired or suspended for a year without pay.

“I am not going away,” Wardani said.

He said he will continue to fight for stiffer penalties for teachers who bully and call their students epithets.

He taught himself to use Facebook and started a page called“Our Son is Not A Raghead Taliban.” It has just over 1,800 likes and dozens of comments from supporters.

D.H. isn’t allowed to use Facebook, but he’s seen the page.  He said this ordeal reinforced the lessons his dad teaches him at home.

“You should never disrespect someone’s ethnic background or religion,” said D.H. “Always be considerate of others.”

More On This Topic