Middle school students at Radloff Middle School in Gwinnett County, Georgia, are facing criminal charges after allegedly calling one of their Black classmates the N-word and whipping her with a belt.
The teacher is under investigation for witnessing the alleged incident take place and not reporting it to the school’s administration.
According to Gwinnett County Police, a Black middle school girl was sitting with another Hispanic student on March 30 in class and was approached by another Hispanic student that asked “How much for your monkey?”
The Hispanic student sitting with the Black girl responded with a price, and the other Hispanic student said that he owned her, then began to whip her with a belt.
Cameron Madison, the father of the Black student, offered the following statement to WSB-TV Atlanta:
“She was sitting with a Hispanic child, and the other Hispanic child approached them and said, ‘How much for your monkey?’ And the child responded, ‘$450.’ And so the main child said alright, looked at my daughter and said, ‘Alright, I own you now N-word. Do my homework slave.’ My daughter refused and that’s when the child asked the other child to remove his belt and he gave her some lashings. And that’s when the teacher initially said, ‘Alright you boys, leave her alone.’ “
The situation was so bad that Madison said his daughter texted her mother and said she didn’t feel safe anymore. He mentioned that his daughter told him that the teacher witnessed the incident, failed to do anything and didn’t report it. She was forced to sit in the classroom with the two boys after the alleged incident because the teacher failed to report it.
Both parents went to the school the next day and confirmed it.
“There’s no safe place. There should be several options for kids in that type of situation where they can walk out immediately, go to someone immediately, have something done immediately,” Madison said.
The principal, Jennifer Callahan, reportedly said she had no idea the situation took place. Callahan suspended the children involved in the incident the next day, sent out a letter to every parent, and launched an investigation with the Gwinnett County Police Department for a racially motivated crime.
The letter informed the parents of the situation and said that “hitting students and/or directing racial slurs at people will not be tolerated at Radloff Middle.”
After one of the Hispanic students involved was suspended, the student took to Instagram and reposted the letter with the caption, “They’re acting liked I killed someone, I ain’t even hit that hard (laughing emojis).”
The school told WSB-TV that an investigation was launched by the school district on Monday, April 10 for the teacher’s involvement.
“I don’t think time heals wounds when it comes to racism,” said Madison.
