Professor gives wild excuse after clip of ‘racist’ remark caught on Zoom call goes viral

A professor at Hunter College in New York City has gone viral after accidentally unmuting herself during a Zoom meeting and making a “racist” remark, and now she’s explained the context.

At a New York City educational council meeting, Allyson Friedman, a professor at Hunter College, was heard making what seemed like a racially insensitive comment while black educational expert Reginald Higgins was speaking to the people on the Zoom call.

“Carter G. Woodson said, ‘When you can’t control a man’s thinking, you do not have to send him to the back door. He will go without being told,” Reginald said.

At some point during the Zoom call, Alison was heard speaking over a student as her mic had accidentally been unmuted.

@southernbellerinah

A dang shame #huntercollege #allysonfriedman #fyp

♬ 霧化する言語 – yasuhiro soda

“They’re just, they’re too dumb to know they’re in a bad school. Apparently, Martin Luther King said it like, if you train a Black person well enough, they’ll know to use the back. You don’t have to tell them anymore,” Allyson said.

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In the video, you can see the shocked expressions of everyone in the call as she spoke, but before she could continue, a man on the call interrupted her and told her she was unmuted.

“Allyson Friedman, what you are saying is absolutely hearable here. You gotta stop,”  he said.

Allyson has since provided more context for the comments, claiming she was actually trying to explain systemic racism to her child. In quotes given to Susan B. Edelman in a Substack article.

“As a parent, I was trying to explain the concept of systemic racism by referencing a historical example,” she said.

“I want to be very clear that I was not speaking about the student speaker or students generally. In the meeting, there had just been discussion of systemic racism and educational equity, followed by student testimony. In my anger and frustration about the closure process, and what I perceived as a dismissive, paternalistic framing of the community’s concerns, I used a phrase that was wrong, insulting, and harmful.”

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Featured image via TikTok/Hunter University