Mom Gets A Cease & Desist From Her Daughter's Bully After She Got Police Involved When School Staff Claimed He 'Playfully' Whipped Her
Bullying should never be downplayed.
TikTok A California school district is conducting an investigation after a 5th-grade student from Santiago Elementary School in Santa Ana, CA allegedly called a Black student a “slave.”
Jasmine Harris, the mother of the victim, claims the little boy went up to her 10-year-old daughter randomly at lunchtime and said “Get back to work you slave,” while trying to whip her with a jump rope.
Harris wants to press charges against the little boy for the alleged hate crime and attempted assault of a minor.
In a TikTok video posted to Harris’ page, she tells authorities that the school was trying to tell her that it was just a horrible comment.
“No, it’s not a horrible comment,” says Harris, “It’s a hate crime and I want to press charges against the little boy.”
Harris says her daughter, Paris Barnes, is the “only Black girl in her grade” and has never experienced any racism at the school — which she has attended since kindergarten — until now.
While the school staff claims the boy "playfully" whipped the jump rope around, Harris argues that he should be expelled for the racist comment he allegedly made that has left her daughter embarrassed to go back to school.
“It was very disrespectful, and I just felt very hurt inside,” her daughter told ABC 7 news. “I’m not really comfortable going back to school because I don’t know if he’ll do it again because no one really said if he was going to be in that much trouble,” says the little girl.
Following the incident, Harris was sent a cease and desist letter from the bully’s family lawyer.
Harris took to social media for justice after not being satisfied with the response from school administrators and school district staff. Following her posts, she was sent a cease and desist letter from the boy’s family yet never received an apology.
“It has come to our attention that you have been posting photos and statements regarding a minor student attending Santiago Elementary School. You must immediately cease this activity and take down any posts on TikTok, Facebook, Instagram, or any other social media outlet you have posted,” says the letter — which Harris posted to TikTok.
The letter explains the minor’s right to privacy under the State and Federal Constitution as well as FERPA, then goes on to state, “Posting his likeness, i.e., a photo or video and making comments or statements about him violate these rights and can subject you to legal ramifications. He is a minor.”
One user asked, “Why are they always protecting the abusers?!” after seeing the letter. “Minor or not that boy made ADULT comments/threats.” Another user wrote, “This screams we are guilty and we don’t want people knowing.”
Harris claims she never posted the boy’s photos or videos to social media.
Those who heard the story agreed that Harris was justified in taking serious action against the incident and believed the boy should face consequences.
“No school should ever try to downplay such behavior,” wrote one commenter. “This generation of children needs to be taught better. Raised better.”
“There is no such thing as ‘playfully’ doing something like that. what he did was pure racism and hatred. so sorry she had to experience that,” wrote another.
“Glad you called the police. Good for you! Bullying is serious and should never be allowed in schools. It’s my worst fear for my kids to be bullied,” said a third.
While the Supervisor of the Santa Ana Unified School District, Jerry Almendarez, told ABC 7 news, “My heart goes out to Paris. I want to make sure she feels she gets the support that the student needs, but also making sure that we provide the support so that this doesn’t happen again,” Harris later revealed that Almendarez blocked her on Instagram.
The school district claims they are not able to release information on disciplinary action being taken against the student because it is considered confidential by state and federal laws since he is a minor.
Maddie Haley is a writer for YourTango's news and entertainment team. She covers news and social justice issues.