Kansas City student protest: White boy’s racist attack on Black girl

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High School students in Kansas City walked out of class Monday to protest the administration’s handling of a White male student who punched a Black female student while shouting racial slurs.

Malik el-Shabazz (Malcolm X) once stated, “The most disrespected person in America, is the Black woman.” It appears many students at Shawnee Mission East High School agree.

Students chanted “We want change,” “Have our backs” and “How many more times.” during Monday’s 11 a.m. walkout, according to the Kansas City Star.

It comes after video shared by the Kansas City Defender showed a Black girl confronting a White female classmate about her use of the n-word. In the video, she denies using the racial slur.

Moments later, a second video shows a White male student who wasn’t part of the initial confrontation tells the Black girl to “shut the f*ck up” while walking away.

The Black student asks, “who said that?”

He responds, “Me, N*gga. Me.” Then he proceeds to charge down the hall toward the Black female student as if preparing for a locker room brawl. The White student can be seen pushing the Black girl before punching her repeatedly.

Kansas City student protest demands change

The Kansas City Star reports that both students were suspended even though the White student used racial slurs and assaulted the Black female student first.

“This has been an ongoing issue with racism at East. There are multiple situations that have happened over and over again,” Charlize Littlejohn, a senior, said.

Meanwhile, the school district has refused to release details of the students’ discipline or their initial response, citing student privacy.

“We take incidents of racism and physical violence very seriously,” District spokeswoman Kristin Babcock said. “We do have a code of conduct in place, and we follow our policies and procedures.”

Monday’s protest called for a transformative shift in the way the district handles racist incidents. The Kansas City Defender, the region’s leading Black-owned publication, referred to the incident as a hate crime.

The publication received a statement from one student who said the school’s principal, Jason Peres, previously expressed fear at seeing Black students in a group, ““looking like you are going to jump somebody.”

The Black Wall Street Times left a message with Principal Peres. Follow for updates.