New York teacher under investigation for cotton-picking lesson

Teacher put on leave after allegedly telling class of mostly Black students to pick seeds out of cotton during lessons on slavery

School officials in Rochester, New York are investigating allegations that a white teacher told his class of mostly Black students to pick seeds out of cotton and put on handcuffs during lessons on slavery in a seventh-grade social studies class.

It made me feel bad to be a Black person," one School of the Arts student, Jahmiere O'Neal, told reporters.