Desiree Prayther alleges racism after her son Legend Whitaker was subjected to a modified "Happy Birthday" song at Floral Avenue Elementary, featuring lyrics comparing him to a monkey. While some view the incident as tone-deaf tradition, others condemn it as dehumanizing historical racism, prompting an investigation by Polk County Public Schools. The mother's demand for apologies and counseling highlights the clash between perceived cultural norms and modern sensitivities regarding Black identity, leaving the district's response under scrutiny. [Automatically generated summary]
Transcriber: nvidia/parakeet-tdt-0.6b-v2, sat-12l-sm, and large-v3-turbo
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The Racist Birthday Song00:07:04
Hi Legend, did you have a birthday last week?
Yes.
Legend Whitaker just turned six years old.
Can we say happy birthday to you?
He attends Floral Avenue Elementary in Bartow, where his class and teacher celebrated with a song.
Happy birthday to you.
But what happened next?
Would you like the funny song now that I sing to you?
Stirred up hurt feelings and anger.
Happy birthday to you.
You live in the zoo.
You look like a monkey.
And you smell like one too.
Happy quiet, everybody.
Hey, that is wild.
You live in a zoo.
You little monkey.
Well, how did it go?
Let's hear that again.
Because I've never heard of that before.
I don't know, man.
It's been a long time since you was a kid.
You look like a zoo.
You look like a monkey.
And you smell like one-too.
That is crazy.
I never heard of that, but I did some investigating.
So this is a monkey.
You smell like one, too.
Hey, you live in a zoo.
You live in a zoo.
You look like a monkey.
And you smell like one too.
Man, you gotta be crazy to say that nowadays to a black kid.
Well, this is the thing.
This is like really popular in white communities.
Because it turns out they've been doing it for years, but nobody ever...
I wasn't exposed to that.
I didn't.
I think it's that.
And I heard it's in a children's movie.
Yeah.
You know what, Keith?
I think I do remember that when I was a kid.
They used to do that.
Now, look back on it, man.
It was being racist.
No, but it's not inherently racist.
It's just a, what's the word?
I think it's tone deaf.
Yeah, it's 2025.
Yeah.
It's sensitive as black people are.
If that's something you do in your white communities, you say, oh, look, we got a little Negro in there.
I'm going to sing it to him, man.
This is going to be funny.
We're going to treat them just like the white kids.
Yeah.
That's what you call equality, right?
Well, I don't know.
Let's see the rest of the story.
I don't think he liked it.
He liked it.
The happy birthday song, but he didn't like that.
She did a bait and switch on him.
So you want the funny song?
He was like.
No, no, he didn't want to say no.
No, watch his face turn.
What happened next?
Would you like the funny song now that I sing to you?
Stirred up hurt feelings and anger.
Happy birthday to you.
You live in the zoo.
You look like a monkey.
And you smell like one-too.
Well, it kind of spots.
I don't know.
Legend says the song hurt his feelings.
His mother, Desiree Prayther, says the teacher sent her the video and she went straight to the main office.
I automatically...
So that teacher's a blue.
You gotta be an idiot.
Well, she's tone deaf.
You're not very bright either.
Well, Kevin, she's today's climate, Keith.
She's not keeping up with black culture.
Honestly, she's not.
All right, let me keep this.
But I don't think they, I don't think she did that maliciously.
I don't think she did that.
I don't think that.
And I think that black woman, I think she coached her kid for the news show.
Kevin, people always posting like on Twitter where it's Freedom Speaks.
Be sit, people be posting pictures of us portraying us like two apes.
That hurts my feelings.
No, it don't.
Those people do not affect me.
But they're being racist, though.
They can be racist.
I mean, you gotta know.
I'm living the American dream.
Okay, I'm talking about.
So you can go on Twitter and they go two little ape twins right there.
You get upset.
No, but no.
Okay.
My question is this.
Okay, I'm going to read these comments.
Don't y'all know the history of the been calling black people monkeys and apes and chimps and chipping out and all that stuff?
Yeah.
Right?
Yeah.
I mean, you got to be, I mean, I guess I'm.
Living on a rock.
Yeah, okay.
Let's listen.
Chief, she crazy to send that to that kid's mama.
Yeah, but she's obviously she's oblivious.
But I'm telling you, do you agree?
She probably coached the kid to trump things up a little bit.
Of course.
Yeah.
As a black woman, you see that you live in a zoo.
You look like a monkey.
You smell like one, too.
This is racist.
That's what I'm saying.
She's like, yes, I hit the jackpot.
I'm going to get about 250 G's out of these people.
The main office.
I automatically said that's unacceptable.
And I don't feel, I don't think nothing's funny about it.
Prayer says there's a history of black people being described that way, which makes it extremely upsetting.
My skin is boiling.
I don't even like racism and to know where we come from and our ancestors.
And for us to be labeled like that because when they call us money, they basically saying that we're ugly, we act like a monkey, and all this and that.
I don't like that at all.
Polk County Public Schools District staff and the HR department are reviewing this.
I followed up with additional questions.
Like, is this the first time this teacher has sung this song to students?
And I also asked, while this is being reviewed, will the teacher still be in the classrooms?
I've not heard back yet.
I don't play games about my child.
In a letter to the school board, Prayther asked for an apology, immediate disciplinary action, and counseling for her son.
After receiving no response, she decided.
Yeah, she's trying to get the counseling to be evidence in her loss.
Yeah.
She's creating a paper trail.
Yeah, yeah.
Decided to show up in person.
Daddy just kept saying it's an active investigation.
They can't answer no questions.
Man, that nose ring is godballer.
Yeah, that damn investigation is closed.
What are you investigating?
The video, are you still investigating?
We already know who, win, and where.
So I don't think they was being intentionally being racist, but that's being racially racially insensitive.
Well, and they've been living on a rock.
You gonna sing it to a black kid and then send the video to his mama?
Do you want to get sued?
This woman, whoever sent that, has got to be a Democrat.
Calling a Black Kid a Monkey00:01:30
Gotta be.
What's Florida, Kevin?
No, but all these schools are filled with Democrats.
Man, a Republican.
Man, I ain't singing that to no black kid.
They're gonna call me racist.
Yeah, that's why I think maybe, I don't know.
You can't, like, white people, y'all got the high IQs.
Right?
But I don't think it's racist because they do that to the white kids.
It's just a tradition.
And I do remember a song come to mind.
I don't remember it.
I remember.
No, you don't.
They're saying, hey, you want the monkey song?
I said, y'all want the monkey song.
Happy birthday to you.
You live in a zoo.
You look like a monkey.
You smell like one, too.
I say, yeah.
I'm a little monkey.
I'm a little monkey.
I'm going to start chimping out.
That's crazy.
Yeah.
Obviously, she's looking for a payday.
Yeah, I think she's hurt too.
Because black people are sensitive about how they look.
I know I don't look like a monkey.
So that song's not going to offend me.
If you think you look like a monkey, that song's going to offend you.
If you think you look like a monkey.
You see what I'm saying?
I'm not saying you do look like a monkey.
Yeah, but that work, we were called monkeys, Kevin.
I mean, you've been called monkeys.
I don't deny that.
Yeah, I don't deny that.
We were called that growing up.
Yeah.
Spitchuck, all kinds of stuff.
Yeah, so, I mean, I could totally, I could actually see it from her point of view.
I can see it with her, too.
I can see it from white people's point of view because y'all really don't give a damn how black Black people