A white male high school student in Kansas will spend 18 months in juvenile custody for his part in a racist attack on a Black girl last year.
That attack took place at Shawnee Mission East High School on Nov. 15, 2023.
A now-16-year-old student was caught on camera hurling several racial slurs at a fellow sophomore before the two got into a fight.
Cell phone video that went viral showed the white male student saying “Me [N-word], me!” and “What, [N-word], what?” as both teens charge at each other in the school hallway. The Black student lands a right hook and the pair go to blows. The video ends as teachers are seen rushing in to break up the students.
According to the Kansas City Defender, the Black student suffered a broken nose and had to go to a hospital for treatment. The white student suffered a concussion and an eye injury. Both students were suspended from school.
The fight sparked local protests and a massive school walkout. Several students contended that the incident was part of a pattern at the school that school administrators hadn’t sufficiently addressed.
Some community members also asserted that the girl was a victim of a hate crime since she confronted two white female students for using racial slurs and calling Black people “slaves” before the fight began. The confrontation ended peacefully, but as the group parted, the white male student told the Black student to “Shut the f*** up.” That’s when the two rush toward each other and the fight begins.
Despite the assertions that the assault was a hate crime, law enforcement only charged the male student with aggravated battery.
The teenager, whom local reports identified as Nicholas Rosaly, pleaded guilty to aggravated battery causing great bodily harm last month in juvenile court.
His father spoke to a local news outlet in December and said that while the N-word is “ugly, hateful, mean, and disrespectful,” he didn’t believe the incident was racially motivated. He maintained that his son got into the fight to protect other students.
“I’m upset. My son hit a girl. That’s one, but two, I was mad that he opened his mouth or anything of that sort because he should just wait and get a teacher,” the boy’s father said.
The victim, Bre’yanna Brown, said she was “very happy to hear” that Rosaly pleaded guilty in May. However, the trauma of the event forced her to transfer schools.
“It put us through a lot of stress and it just made me feel like I wasn’t safe anywhere I would be at school in the hallways and stuff,” Brey’anna told FOX4.
Shawnee Mission East High School is located in the Prairie Village suburb of Kansas City, Kansas.
According to the Department of Justice, 128 hate crimes were reported to law enforcement in Kansas in 2022. 130 hate crimes were reported in 2021 and 124 in 2020.
Approximately 45 percent of all reported hate crime offenses in 2022 cite race as the bias motivation. About 35 percent were motivated by religion and 11 percent were motivated by sexual orientation.
