Two Black middle school students were racially harassed by their white peers with insults like “n*gger,” “monkey,” and “ape” and told to “go pick some cotton,” but when their parents complained to school administrators, they were told there was no policy in place forbidding racial harassment.
Now, the parents have filed a lawsuit against the Portage Public School District in Michigan, which lists four defendants, including a school bus driver accused of racially harassing one of the Black students by calling him “Donkey Kong” while chasing him on foot.
The lawsuit filed last week by Adam Baylis III and his wife, Nakia S. Baylis, states the parents have since removed their children from Portage West Middle School, who are identified only as “A.B.” and “G.B.” in the lawsuit.
But the racial harassment continues against other Black students within the Portage Public School District, the claim states.
“The issue of racial harassment appears embedded in the culture of the Portage Public School District. Since the removal of A.B. and G.B., the Baylis family has continued to receive calls from other Black parents in the district, seeking guidance on how to address the racism their children are also experiencing. These parents share the growing concern that the administration’s failure to confront racial harassment leaves their children exposed to ongoing harm.”
Portage is a city about 150 miles west of Detroit with a population of about 50,000 people, less than 5 percent of whom are Black.
The defendants listed in the lawsuit are West Middle School Principal Jason Messenger, Assistant Principal Sidney Bailey, School Counselor Becky Moon and Bob Hayworth, the school bus driver accused of chasing after one of the kids while yelling racial insults over some Halloween candy.
“On October 31, 2023, while trick-or-treating, A.B. was racially harassed by his school bus driver, Defendant Bob Hayworth,” the lawsuit states.
“Hayworth chased A.B. through the neighborhood, accusing him of taking too much candy from an unattended bucket and shouting racial slurs, including ‘Donkey Kong.’ A.B. fled, injuring his ankle in the process. This incident was recorded by one of A.B.’s peers.”
Racist Text Messages
The family moved to Portage in 2019, and A.B. began attending West Middle School in 2021, and G.B. began attending in 2022, where they both began experiencing racial harassment.
The harassment escalated at the beginning of the school year in September 2023 through text messages and social media, where they were called derogatory names.
A few of the text messages included in the lawsuit as exhibits include a photo of three Klansmen with the caption, “3 K’s a Day Keeps the N*ggas Away,” and another photo showing a hooded Klansman dangling a piece of fried chicken from a fishing pole.
Another exhibit shows a photo of a white female student in blackface with the words, “I made myself into a n*gger.” And another exhibit shows a photo of a monkey that was texted to G.B.
The parents met with Bailey on several occasions between September 2023 and November 2023, but the assistant principal “failed to take any meaningful action to stop the harassment, instead relying on informal, inadequate responses.”
On Oct. 16, 2023, the parents met with Messenger, Bailey and Moon where they learned there was nothing that could be done because there were no policies in place.
“The administration admitted during the meeting that there were no specific policies in place to address racial harassment, as their policies primarily focused on issues such as staff misconduct, sexual harassment, and physical harm,” the claim states.
“This lack of specific policies left both A.B. and G.B., as well as other students of color, vulnerable to ongoing harassment without adequate protection or clear processes for addressing such behavior.”
On Nov. 1, 2023, the parents received a call from the district’s transportation department about the incident with the bus driver, informing them that A.B. had been causing problems on the bus. The caller refused to acknowledge that the bus driver was the aggressor.
Later that day, the parents met with Messenger and Bailey to show them the video of Hayworth chasing their child and the assistant principal acknowledged “there was no justifications for Hayworth’s behavior.”
The parents even filed a police report against the driver that day, but there is no record of Hayworth being arrested in online court records from Kalamazoo County. Despite the video, the school allowed Hayworth to continue driving the bus.
“On November 2, 2023, and November 3, 2023, A.B. and G.B. were distressed to see Hayworth continuing his regular bus route through their neighborhood, despite the ongoing harassment they had endured and the school’s knowledge of the incidents,” the lawsuit states.
That was when the family chose to remove their children from the school and relocate to another home to enroll them in another school, “incurring significant financial and emotional burdens.”
“A.B. and G.B. have both suffered severe emotional and psychological harm due to the ongoing racial harassment. A.B. has worked closely with (child therapist) Ms. Shorter to address the trauma caused by the racial hostility, focusing on managing anxiety, depression and emotional regulation,” the complaint continued.
The Michigan lawsuit is the latest in a series of lawsuits filed against school districts in the country over failing to protect Black children from racial harassment.
