A mother in North Carolina said her son and his Black classmates were sold by their peers at a recent “slave auction” at a Chatham County school.
Ashley Palmer the boy’s mother wrote on Facebook that the incident took place at J.S. Waters School in Goldston, N.C. last week. She said a Black student was sold at the auction for $350 .
“Our son experienced a slave auction by his classmates and when he opened up we were made aware that this type of stuff seems to be the norm so much that he didn’t think it was worth sharing,” Palmer wrote. “His friend ‘went for $350’ and another student was the Slavemaster because he ‘knew how to handle them.’
She went on to claim that she had a video of students “harmonizing the N word.”
“Since when were children so blatantly racist? Why is this culture acceptable?” she continued. “Parents teach your kids that this behavior isn’t ok. Teach them also that SILENCE IS COMPLICITY! Laughter is even worse!”
Palmer’s post was first reported by the Raleigh News and Observer.
Chatham county superintendent, Dr. Anthony Jackson said in a letter to the community on Tuesday that he became aware of “recent incidents involving students using racially insensitive language and offensive imagery.”
Jackson went on to say that “racist, homophobic or otherwise hateful behavior or speech has no place in the Chatham County School System,” adding, “those who are acting outside of our expectations will be held accountable.”
On Monday, Palmer wrote that students involved in the auction received one day suspension, but no action has been taken yet about the video. She also said that the student who played the role of ‘slavemaster’ hit her son with a baseball upon his return to school.
J.S. Waters is a K-8 school with about 200 students. The school is majority white (68%), 12% Black. 12% Hispanic and 6% of two or more races.
What the… are they teaching in this school?! This is outrageous and egregious. Any teacher or administrator who allowed this needs to be fired. There needs to be remedial education for all those, especially the students, who participated in this. And counseling services need to be offered to the children, especially the black children. Just reading about this is distressing. Stop racism, don’t elevate it!