White student interrupts black classmate’s presentation on the N-word to say ‘go back’ to Africa
Less than two weeks after Central Cabarrus High School suspended two black kids for calling out a white student on Snapchat for using the n-word, the school is under fire again and this time suspended a white student for only a day after telling a black girl to go back to Africa.
There’s definitely something rotten in the cotton in Concord North Carolina!
Kaliya Hill, a black 11th-grader at the high school said she making a class presentation that dealt with explaining the origins of the n-word and outlining the troubles that Africans endured when taken from their homes, enslaved and forced to live in a land. That’s when a white student boldly made an insensitive racial remark.
“My argument was that we were taken from our country and that our names were changed and the N-word was used to degrade us of our worth,” Kaliya said.
“The white student said, ‘Go back,’” Kaliya said. “He whispered it like no one was supposed to hear it. Everybody stopped and asked him to say it again. He said, ‘Go back.’”
That hurtful comment from her classroom left Kaliya reeling.
“I’m a cheerleader, I run track, I support the school,” Kaliya said. “In the meantime, I’m feeling this way inside, that I’m being looked upon as different when I’m like everybody else.”
And to add insult to injury, the school only suspended the white student for one day.
READ MORE: Black students suspended for posting video of white classmate using N-word
Difference in Discipline for Blacks and Whites
The white student’s one-day suspension clearly shows that Central Cabarrus High School has some of its own issues in racial disparities in how black students are disciplined versus white students.
Less than two weeks ago, a pair of black students at the high school, 15-year-old Carmani Harris-Jackson, and 16-year-old Trinity Smith say they were unfairly punished for drawing attention to an incident of racism In response to the Parkland school shooting on Feb. 14, students across the country staged a walkout from their classes as part of a nationwide debate over guns in schools. However, last month just the mere discussion of joining in the protests resulted in four students at Concord’s Central Cabarrus High School getting suspended.
Snapchat debate devolves
What was supposed to be a healthy online debate turned into a racially charged dispute after one angry white student said the n-word in a Snapchat video while criticizing gun reform, according to BuzzFeed News.
Harris-Jackson and Smith were handed a two-day in-school suspension after republishing the clip on social media. They later told BuzzFeed they didn’t think it was fair they were punished for drawing attention to racism among classmates.
READ MORE: “Instead of focusing on my education, I worry about my life”
“I was a victim in the situation and you all got mad at me for putting it out there,” said Harris-Jackson, a sophomore. “Someone posted on Snapchat how the walkout would be stupid, how without guns we wouldn’t have any of the stuff we have today, and that we were wasting our time walking out.”
Harris-Jackson says she and a few white students who identified as conservative were going back and forth debating gun reform via their Snapchat Stories on Feb. 21.
During the discussion a white female student then recorded her friend, who is also a white CCHS student, responding: “They’re putting laws on who can purchase a gun. No, n****r…”
Friends no more
“Me and [the girl who said it] were friends before this happened. We had a class together. We would talk together. But as soon as I have a difference in views, you call me a very harmful and offensive racial slur? She said it in a joking manner, but there are boundaries of things you joke about and that’s not one of the things you joke about it,” said Harris-Jackson.
When she and her best friend Trinity Smith, 16, reposted the video it got over 10,000 views and 200 retweets on Smith’s Twitter alone. Both claim they’d often witnessed racism at CCHS — such as “KKK” scratched into the bathroom walls and white students casually saying the n-word — and felt it was time to finally do something about it.
In a move that Smith’s mother, Sharon Shingler, said she found “very baffling” all four students were suspended, the two white girls who posted the video and the two black girls who reposted it.
READ MORE: NRA is suing Florida after governor signs gun laws
Buzzfeed reported that the morning after the video with the slur in it has appeared online, Smith and Harris-Jackson were asked by school administrators to remove it from their accounts. After some reluctance, they finally did. However, Smith said she only agreed after she was told that she would not face any disciplinary action.
Despite that, both girls were told the next day they had two days of in-school suspension, accused of creating a “disruptive environment.
Pointing out the irony
“I know for a fact if I hadn’t posted it and cause a ‘disruption,’ you would haven’t cared as much, you all would have swept it under the rug,” said Harris-Jackson.
“I can understand if I actually did something bad,” said Smith. “But the fact is, I didn’t threaten this girl, I didn’t say anything derogatory, I didn’t start a fight with her. The only thing I did was post a video and said I was disgusted with what she said. Because it is disgusting.”
“Cabarrus County Schools seeks to provide a safe, inviting and motivating learning environment for all of our students. Racial prejudice and insensitivity have no place in our classrooms or on our campuses,” Ronnye Boone, the communications director for Cabarrus County Schools, said in a statement.
Dealing with Racial Disparities
In the latest case where the white student told the black student to essentially go back to Africa, the school district declined to comment about the incident. Clearly the latest incident shows that white students and black students don’t have equity when it comes to discipline and punishment. And why would two students get punished for calling out racism anyway?
According to Raw Story, the boy’s father said he hopes this situation blows over soon since his son has been getting death threats.
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