Texas high school accused of ignoring ‘daily’ racist harassment of Black students in federal complaint

Complaint filed with Department of Education’s Office of Civil Rights

A collection of civil rights group accused a Texas high school of allowing a pervasive atmosphere of racist bullying against its small population of Black students that led one promising student to run away and try to harm herself, according to a complaint filed Monday with the Department of Education, backed by the American Civil Liberties Union, Texas Civil Rights Project, NAACP, and the Intercultural Development Research Association (IDRA).

Black students at Slaton High School, outside of Lubbock, experienced a “daily” barrage of racist taunts by classmates including being called a “porch monkey” and the n-word, according to the complaint.

“All students deserve to feel safe and welcome in school,” IDRA’s Chief Legal Analyst, Paige Duggins-Clay, J.D. said in a statement. “We are hopeful the Department of Education will facilitate a resolution that eliminates the districts’ discriminatory discipline practices and effectively addresses the racially hostile environment.”

The mistreatment wasn’t just coming from the students, however. The civil rights groups who filed the complaint also accuse the school of singling out Black students for excessive punishment.

A female pupil was sent to an alternative education programme for troubled students after a nurse scanned her face with a blacklight and decided “specks” on her chin indicated marijuana use.

Another student was given 45 days in this programme, the Disciplinary Alternative Education Program (DAEP), when she struck a white student who had been calling her racist names for days with no apparent intervention by staff.

The student Autumn Roberson-Manahan, 17, has a mental health disability, which her parents say they warned the school about as the racist mistreatment escalated.

“Her parents had previously warned administrators that their daughter was on the brink of a mental health breakdown, making clear their concern that if school leaders did not take steps to effectively address the harassment, it could lead to serious manifestations of her disability,” the complaint reads.

Once inside the DAEP, students were forced to change into humiliating orange jumpsuits, and the racist abuse continued, with students continuing to call each other slurs.

According to the complaint, things got so out of hand a teacher slipped a Black student a note apologising.

Ms Roberson-Manahan became so distraught about going back to “that place” that she fled from home and considered self-harm, landing her in a mental health facility.

“They took my beautiful baby girl — who my husband and I worked so hard to mold and love and support — and they broke her,” Autumn’s mother, JaQuatta Manahan, told NBC News. “They didn’t protect her. They cast her aside like she was trash.”

The school told NBC it can’t comment on specific cases because of student privacy, but said it regularly trains staff in diversity and inclusion.

“Do I think there’s racism in our community? Absolutely,” Lubbock-Cooper Superintendent Keith Bryant told the outlet. “Do I think it spills over into schools? I will certainly say it can. We work really hard to try to mitigate that. There is no place in Lubbock-Cooper ISD for racism.”

Numerous studies show students of colour are disproportionately disciplined in schools, leading to lower grades and early contact with the criminal justice system that can lead to a lifetime of disadvantages and recidivism.