Although this story was thoroughly debunked over FIVE years ago, it seems to again be making the rounds on social media. The fake news began circulating based upon an innocent in-service workshop for teachers which actually occurred in 2012, and was, of course, completely taken out of context.
From there, it was spun into a ridiculous story that not only had a Portland, Oregon principal declared PBJ a symbol of racism, but was actually banning the sandwiches from her school. In fact, the principal never even used the word “racism.”
SNOPES:
Fact Check/Claim: Portland schools are banning peanut butter and jelly sandwiches for being racist. FALSE
POLITIFACT OREGON
Portland Public Schools did not spend half a million dollars to label the sandwich “racist.” The principal never called the sandwich racist. The Portland Tribune never said the principal called the sandwich racist. And yes, we don’t usually weigh in on lunch, but who could resist? The statement is inaccurate and silly.
We rate the statement Pants on Fire.
Apparently, the story really took off when Breitbart’s website picked it up, adding to the mix that PBJ was now going to be a “hate food.” (True, diversity, equity and implicit bias were discussed in the training, but the fact remains—peanut butter and jelly sandwiches simply were never declared racist.)
Memes and misleading stories were shared hundreds of thousands of times. Here are just a smattering to avoid:
