The mother of a Black high school student is breaking her silence after her son’s athletic jersey was put on a yellow plastic “children at play” street safety figure, which was hung from a ceiling pipe in the boy’s locker room with a belt around its neck.
The incident took place at Wayland High School in Wayland, Massachusetts, on Oct. 30.
School administrators immediately launched an investigation after a student found the effigy and discovered which students were involved in the incident.
“This centuries-old symbol of hate and racial violence evokes deep emotion and has no place in our community,” Allyson Mizoguchi, the school principal, wrote in a letter to students and parents. “We do not tolerate acts of hate in Wayland, and we will take all appropriate actions to ensure accountability, learning, and healing within our community.”
Superintendent David Fleishman also wrote a letter to families, stating, “This racist act violates a sense of safety for valued members of our community and is counter to the values we hold sacred as a district.”
According to the mother of the 16-year-old boy who was targeted, the two students who hung the figure were suspended for a week.
“It’s devastating and heart-wrenching to know that while my son is enduring pain from the incident, they will be returning to school in a week,” she told WFXT.
Police said they also opened an investigation into the incident, confirmed they’re working with local prosecutors to determine next steps in this “hate-based incident,” and notified the Anti-Defamation League.
Dozens of residents and public officials attended a community meeting held on Nov. 10 and listened to the mother of the teen whose jersey was hung on the figure.
“This is not a matter of kids being kids. It is a painful reminder of the realities that many children face because of the color of their skin,” the mother said to a packed room.
Questions surfaced among community members about charges against the offending students, but authorities said they’re not at liberty to provide information about the investigation since it’s ongoing and involves minors.
“There’s no information that’s going to be released about juveniles. It just can’t be,” said Middlesex County District Attorney Marian Ryan.
For some community members, that wasn’t enough.
“We always hear there’s going to be an investigation, and then we never hear anything else,” said one woman.
Another pointed out the difference between how authorities treat hate crimes involving Jewish victims compared to Black victims.
“There’s definitely a disparity on hate crimes as it relates to swastikas, Jewish families are handled versus Black people,” the resident said.
The mother of the boy who was targeted demanded that authorities take the appropriate actions to penalize the students. She also believes her son should not have to share classrooms with the offending students.
“I just want justice for my son. He deserves justice,” said the boy’s mother. “We need more. Something has to be done. Actions speak louder than words.”
Wayland’s school district has made news headlines before for other racist incidents.
In December 2022, the district looked into some racist graffiti that targeted former superintendent Omar Easy, the school system’s first superintendent of color. A year later, he filed a complaint alleging he endured rampant racial discrimination and a hostile work environment in his time as the district’s leader, according to Boston.com.
Other schools in the state of Massachusetts have drawn national attention in recent years for racial discrimination.
Last spring, six middle school students in the town of Southwick were charged after being accused of facilitating a mock “slave auction” that targeted their Black peers.
An elementary school teacher at another school was placed on leave last year after hosting a mock slave auction that involved Black fifth graders and using the N-word while reading a book that didn’t contain the slur.
