An Arlington, Virginia, family is demanding the school district that governs Gunston Middle School, the campus where their son is enrolled, pay them millions of dollars in damages.
They allege their eighth grader, an African-American boy, was forced against his wishes to play a game involving applying Vaseline to his nose and using it to pick up cotton balls and then he faced backlash after he complained.
On Wednesday, Feb. 8, Sidney Rousey Jr., the only Black child in the class, was asked to perform this activity by his substitute French teacher.
Related: ‘I Am Going to Make Them Pick F*g Cotton’: University of Wisconsin Students Call for Expulsion of Classmate Who Went on a Racist Rant In Viral Video
Keisha Kirkland, the boy’s mother, told local station WTTG that she was appalled when he told her what happened.
“African-Americans had to pick cotton during slavery. And it is a disgrace to have an African American child put it on his face with Vaseline, to me, it’s disgraceful. It’s a smack in our face, and it says they do not care about our history,” the mom said.
The family has enlisted the support of an attorney as they seek redress from the suburban Washington school district.
Their lawyer, former Virginia Lt. Gov. Justin Fairfax, sent a letter on Tuesday, May 2, to the Arlington Public Schools demanding $10 million in damages. He wanted to send a powerful message to the school, noting that the responsibility for what is taught in the classroom rests squarely on the district’s shoulders.
“He was visibly uncomfortable with the prospect of participating in the exercise,” Fairfax states in the letter reviewed by Atlanta Black Star.
“Sidney was coerced into a situation that was deeply traumatizing,” the letter explains. “He was the first student forced to participate in the activity and only did so because out of fear that noncompliance would result in him getting ‘in trouble.’”
Rousey told…
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