If the producers of a Black History Month item knew as much as a Nevada history teacher, the item would not have been pulled from the shelves at Target.
The kit mislabeled three prominent figures in black history and made it all the way to store shelves before Tierra Espy blew the whistle.
Espy used a video posted to TikTok, to call out the flaws in the “Civil Rights Magnetic Learning Activity” kit. The video has more than 97,000 likes.
Espy, who uses the handle @issatete on TikTok, said that when she opened the kit, she found flaws in magnets that were supposed to be of sociologist and historian W.E.B. Du Bois; educator Booker T. Washington; and historian Carter G. Woodson.
Knowing black history is SO important, even if it’s not your own.
Las Vegas HS teacher Tierra Espy posted a video on TikTok revealing that a Civil Rights learning activity from Target, confused W.E.B Du Bois, Booker T. Washington and Carter G. Woodson. https://t.co/NIygJnrssh
— Zora Asberry (@ZoraAsberry) February 3, 2024
Woodson’s magnet showed an image of Du Bois. DuBois was mislabeled as Washington, and Washington was incorrectly named Woodson.
” I don’t know who’s in charge of Target, but these need to be pulled off the shelves, like, immediately,” her video said.
“Idk who needs to correct it but it needs to be pulled off the shelves nontheless. Any person could have missed the mistake but it just takes one person to point it out and ask for corrections,” she posted on TikTok.
Should there be a Black History Month?
“As soon as I saw the mistake I’m like, ‘Oh no, I can’t put this up,’” she said, according to CNN.
“They’re expecting us not to notice the mistakes, and it’s heartbreaking as somebody who knows the mistakes and has seen it,” she said.
“I was not going to let that slide for my 200 students and I was not going to let that slide for my two babies who I am responsible (for) teaching,” she said in a follow-up video posted Thursday.
Espy said a simple check would have revealed the mistake, according to the Associated Press,
“Google is free, and like, I caught it in two seconds. They could have caught it by just doing a quick Google search,” she said.
Espy said neither Target nor the publisher of the kit reached out to her, but she was glad Target acted by pulling the product.
“I’m a teacher. If you don’t know something, I can’t blame you for what you don’t know,” Espy said. But if “I give you the information to correct it, then it’s your responsibility.”
Bendon Publishing, which made the kit, did not respond to requests for comment, according to NPR.
In a statement to Fox News a Target representative said, “We will no longer be selling this product in stores or online. We’ve also ensured the product’s publisher is aware of the errors.”
