The parents of two Indianapolis teens are demanding action after they say their daughters are the victims of racist threats and bullying that’s keeping been them home from school.
Alexander Wortham told The Indy Channel he knew something was up when his daughter, Imani, started exhibiting strange behavior and asking to stay home from school more than usual. He and fellow parent Dominique Duncan soon learned both their children were being harassed by a classmate at the Horizon Christian School.
The bullied teens refused to go to school this week after the student who harassed them was allowed to return to class. (Image courtesy of The Indy Channel)
“Silence is killing our young people,” Wortham said. “People not dealing with the issue. Not dealing with the problem and I think for us, as parents, enough is enough.”
Duncan said she felt “very let down” as a parent.
The girls, Imani and LaShanti, said a male student started bullying them at school and telling them things like they’d be the first get be shot if there was ever a school shooting.
“He pointed to me personally, he looked me in the eye,” Imani recalled.
“He said he would sell me into slavery if I didn’t do what he said and then he started making little jingles about slavery,” LaShanti added.
An email sent to parents by a school administrator noted that the student had been suspended after the girls’ parents took their complaints to the administration. The unnamed teen was allowed to return to school on Monday, however,
Both Imani and LaShanti have chosen to stay home this week.
We should be able to go to school and not feel threatened, scared or having to be on edge the whole time,” Imani said.
Now, Wortham and Duncan are calling on school leaders to come up with more effective policies on bullying and have suggested bringing in an expert to discuss race relations and bullying, Indy Channel reported.
The Horizon Christian School principal declined to comment on the matter, citing student privacy issues.
