Posted on February 15, 2011

Ten-Year-Old Boy Accused of Racism for Calling White Classmate ‘Chocolate Brownie’

Daily Mail (London), February 15, 2011

A schoolboy has been reprimanded for alleged racism after he called a white pupil named Brown a ‘chocolate brownie’.

Harrison Wiener, 10, made the comment after being teased about his own surname at Thorp Primary School in Royton, Oldham.

Harrison’s mother is now furious after her son was disciplined by teachers and ordered to apologise.

Race row: Thorp Primary School disciplined Harrison Wiener after he called a fellow pupil–who was white–‘chocolate brownie’

Harrison had been called ‘sausage boy’ by a classmate making fun of his Austrian-derived surname, which is also an American word used for hot dog sausages.

The child is said to have retorted ‘Shut up, chocolate brownie’ only to be punished for making an apparent racist remark.

Mother-of-two Clare Wiener has been told the incident is to be ‘noted’ in her son’s file and reported to the Lancashire school’s local education authority.

‘Harrison has been left really upset by this and made to feel like he’s done something terrible,’ she told The Sun.

‘It’s crazy. One boy taunted him by making his surname sound like a snack–and he responded by making the other boy’s surname sound like a cake.

‘How can calling a white boy named Brown a chocolate brownie be racist?

‘Harrison was told the word brownie is a racist word. But it’s the name of a cake you can buy in any coffee shop.’

Ms Wiener’s local MP, former Labour minister Michael Meacher has now written to the school demanding an explanation for the matter.

Thorp Primary School’s headmaster, Stuart Bennett, said it would be ‘inappropriate to comment about individual cases’.