In Indiana parents of 11-year-old NyZeria Neely have been banned from her school after confronting administrators over racist threats made against their daughter
NyZeria Neely is the only Black student in her high-ability class at Concord Intermediate School, where 10% of the students and 2% of the school’s staff are Black. NyZeria said she found a pair of threatening notes in her locker two weeks in a row.
The first note, which she found last week, warned,
Watch your back.”
Then days later, she received a second note, which read:
N****rs don’t belong!!!”
Both times NyZeria took a photo of the notes and showed it to school principal Chad Stamm. She hoped he would respond differently the second time, but her concerns were dismissed.
He told me not to worry because it’s just words, but it’s more than words. I felt that it was offensive…very offensive.”
The response of the school’s Superintendent Wayne Stubbs was more promising than the principal’s. He disagreed with Stamm, saying the letter was unacceptable and promised it would be treated as a serious security threat. The only action taken by the school district in response however, was to issue an automated alert to parents that harassment would not be tolerated.
NyZeria’s parents are not satisfied, and will continue to fight for their daughter.
They have taken it lightly. It’s too severe of a case to ignore something like this. They don’t want to hear me.”
– (Mother) Gina Neely
Carrying a poster stating “STOP BULLYING OUR CHILDREN”, the parents arrived at the school to confront it’s administrators. Instead of addressing their concerns, administrators called in the Elkhart County Sheriff’s Department to issue a no-trespass order against the Neely’s.
The parents have now pulled NyZeria and her three siblings from class as they have no faith in the school’s ability to keep their children safe after they have shown such apathy. The family is calling for a public apology from school officials, and they are considering filing an independent report with the sheriff’s office. It’s just a shame we are still dealing with racism of this magnitude in 2015, these issues must be addressed.
-Infinite Wiz (@InfiniteWiz)
