Frustrated 8th-grader writes letter about racism he experiences at school
Za'Khari Waddy is only 13 years old, but already, he has had to face extreme racism.
Za’Khari Waddy is only 13 years old, but already, he has had to face extreme racism.
“Ever since we’ve moved to this area my son has been faced with racism,” Za’Khari’s mother, Zettrona Powell, wrote in a letter to the school. “He’s been asked if he was going to rape or rob a young lady, he’s been pushed into lockers and called a n—-r on numerous occasions.”
Za’Khari wrote an open letter describing the abuse he has had to endure at school, in the hopes that he will be able to draw attention to the issue.
“Yesterday on the football bus coming from our football game a kid … started saying racist things to me. He then started saying he does not like blacks and he told me 200 years ago my ancestors hung from a tree and after he said that I should I hang from a tree,” Za’Khari wrote in his open letter.
“That made me super mad, so in the locker room I told him not to call me n—-r or that I should be hung on a tree,” he continued.
“The coaches took me away from the kid because I was really mad and they think I was going to fight him but I want someone to do something about it because I’m tired of boys messing with me because of my skin. I’m at my boiling point with this. Please do something about this because when I bring it to the office/principle [sic] you do nothing about it and I’m tired of the racism.”
Despite this, the school has done nothing except to tell Za’Khari’s mother that they would look into the issue.
“This has crushed my son’s spirit,” she said. “When my son got off the bus, he threw his backpack, the coaches came in and told him don’t let it get to him. How can he not allow this to bother him mentally? This has mentally damaged my son.”
