A federal investigation found evidence of repeated racial harassment among kids in Hawkins County, Tennessee.
A school district in Tennessee has agreed to implement changes to its practices after a federal investigation found evidence of racist harassment, including calling Black students racial slurs and having them participate in mock slave auctions where they are sold to their white peers.
The US Department of Justice said it had achieved significant policy changes in settlement with Hawkins County School District in eastern Tennessee after discovering the district was deliberately indifferent to known race-based harassment in its schools, violating the rights of Black students.”
After launching an investigation last year, the justice department found that the white students had been making fun of Black students by repeating the N-word and holding a “monkey of the month” campaign. One Black student, identified as KR, suffered repeated abuse, and on one occasion, he was walked into a bathroom only to discover a white student holding a staged slave auction in which he was sold to the highest bidder.
Other instances included classmates connecting a Black student to a group of chats that contained racist remarks and spread Ku Klux Klansmen. Less than five Black pupils out of 400 attended the school, and according to the mother of the student, the school district did not act on the complaints about the student’s behavior.
According to Kristen Clarke, assistant attorney general of the civil rights division of the Department of Justice, “No student should be subjected to slave auctions or racial slurs meant for a shameful period in US history when Black people were treated as subhuman.”
Clarke added that the department will ensure that Hawkins County takes action to end racial discrimination in its educational institutions.
As part of the settlement, the school system will be required to implement eight distinct measures, including hiring additional personnel to handle racism-related complaints, educating teachers, and creating procedures for parents and children to report instances of racist harassment.
Matt Hixson, the director of schools for Hawkins County, stated that “our school system is and has always has been dedicated to serving and protecting all students, regardless of race.”
Therefore, we intend to collaborate with the department in the future, and we are excited to agree with the Department of Justice pursuing those same goals.”
