A Cerritos, California, high school has removed a mock slavery lesson from its curriculum that had eighth-grade students playing the part of slaves after getting complaints from parents about it. As part of Whitney High School's lesson, students' hands were bound with masking tape and they had to lie on the ground in a dark room as if on a slave ship while they watched a clip from the groundbreaking 1970s miniseries Roots, and teachers played the part of the ship captains. An explanation of the lesson that was emailed to parents ahead of time also said it would be done as a surprise, stating that it would be more powerful if students weren't prepared for it. The email said, "The idea is for them to be uncomfortable and to feel mistreated, like a piece of property. However, please rest assured that your child will not be physically or emotionally hurt/harmed in any way." One parent, Sharde Carrington, posted the letter on Facebook and said her son wouldn't be taking part, telling The Huffington Post, "As the mother of a black child, I feared that my son's participation would lead him to experience trauma, perhaps at a cellular level, and have a visceral reaction of anger and fear during the exercise itself." She also asked: "Would you simulate rape in order to encourage sensitivity toward survivors? Will children pretend to be in Japanese internment camps as well?" After the parent's letter got attention and led to a backlash, the school said Monday that it wouldn't be doing the lesson anymore