A white Florida high school teacher is on leave after he evoked Donald Trump in an offensive comment to black students.
John Sousa, who works at Wesley Chapel High School, was told to leave the school and stay home after a parent complained, according to WFLA.
That parent, Donnie Jones Jr., said his daughter told him she was walking down the hallway with two other friends when Sousa walked up and asked what they were doing.
"Don't make me call Donald Trump to get you sent back to Africa,” the teacher then said, according to Jones' daughter.
Jones Jr. was furious when he heard the story.
“I'm beyond pissed right now. I damn near have tears in my eyes,” he wrote on Facebook Wednesday.
“Politics are Politics but once you say something to my child then it's f**king on!”
In a follow-up post the next day, the father said he called Sousa, who admitted to the comment and apologized.
But the teacher said he didn't mean to be racist. He said he’d been talking to a larger group in the hallway at the time, a detail Jones Jr.’s daughter disputes.
"My daughter said he pointed at the 3 black students and said 'Donald's going to send you back to Africa,'" Jones Jr. wrote on Facebook.
The dad received a lot of support on Facebook. His initial post has been shared nearly 6,000 times.
On Friday, the teacher met with the director of employee relations to talk about the incident, according to WESH 2 News.
“The school district is very troubled if one of our employees did say what he is accused of saying,” school district spokesperson Linda Cobbe told the broadcaster.
“We can't stand for that. We expect civility," she said.
“I believe he's sorry but he's only sorry because he's in trouble." — Parent Donnie Jones Jr.
As of Friday, no action had been taken against the teacher, Cobbe told WFLA. That's because there were discrepancies between what the teacher and students said had happened.
But Jones is waiting to see what the school does, saying he doesn't think Sousa understands the gravity of his comment.
“I believe he's sorry but he's only sorry because he's in trouble."
Donald Trump has never called for black Americans to be "sent back to Africa," but his win appears to have fuelled many incidents of racial harassment and intimidation in the United States.
There has been a spike in reported hate crimes since last week's election, according to the Southern Poverty Law Center.
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