(Courtesy of Journal-News)
Over the past few months, there has been a rise in the number of racial incidents reported within the Mason School District in Ohio. The issue is especially concerning given that Black students only make up 4% of the 10K plus student population.
“We have seen an uptick in the number of racially and culturally insensitive comments in our schools and community,” Superintendent Gail Kist-Kline wrote in an email to parents addressing another incident that occurred after a teacher used the n-word when speaking to a Black student.
“Sometimes these are said out of genuine ignorance,” she added. “As a district, we want to be very clear, racial slurs or any behavior that discriminates against others are NOT acceptable,” the letter read.
The most recent disturbance was a racist video posted by a group of students regarding Black History Month. A white Mason high school student looked at the camera laughing and cited racial slurs referring to Blacks as “good for nothing, tree-swinging, watermelon-eating, chicken finger-licking n***** who need to get some jobs.”
The video comes after several racially fueled incidents that have happened at Mason Schools.
Several other incidents include:
- A white teacher telling his Black student that he would be “lynched” if he didn’t get back on task.
- A white teacher asking a Black student in front of the entire class if she could touch the student’s hair.
- A racist SnapChat message posted by a group of white students and sent to several Black middle school students. The message, riddled with grammatical errors read in part: “I hate black kids…” “like thugs that doesn’t need to be in mason and I’m coming after you jack [expletive]…”
Mason officials once again released a statement on Monday (Feb.5) addressing the racial allegations.
“Racial slurs and discriminatory language are a violation of our student code of conduct. All reports of such behavior are investigated fully. We want our classroom conversations to stand up against racism and discrimination, and to offer messages of hope and resilience.”
Tanisha Agee Bell, the mother of the Black student who was told he’d be lynched by his teacher, told Fox 19 that Mason City School District refuses to acknowledge they have a racial problem.
“Over the past four years, I’ll say Mason’s been harder for me to raise my son here… We have to stand up when things are wrong”, she expressed.
