{"id":14652,"date":"2024-12-21T19:51:18","date_gmt":"2024-12-21T19:51:18","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/wordpress.thetruthtoledo.com\/?p=14652"},"modified":"2024-12-21T19:51:34","modified_gmt":"2024-12-21T19:51:34","slug":"silent-crisis-when-bullying-targets-black-students","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/wordpress.thetruthtoledo.com\/index.php\/2024\/12\/21\/silent-crisis-when-bullying-targets-black-students\/","title":{"rendered":"Silent Crisis: When Bullying Targets Black Students"},"content":{"rendered":"

How schools fall short of dealing with harassment and lack of mental health resources for vulnerable students.<\/em><\/p>\n

By\u00a0Quintessa Williams<\/strong><\/a>, Word In Black<\/strong><\/p>\n

Special to The Truth<\/strong><\/p>\n

For more than a year, 14-year-old Kelaia Turner endured bullying from schoolmates and even her teacher at Dr.\u00a0Phinnize J. Fisher\u00a0Middle School in Greenville, South Carolina. They teased her about her looks, calling the girl a \u201croach\u201d and \u201ca man.\u201d They\u00a0soaked her clothes<\/a>\u00a0and dumped them in the garbage.<\/p>\n

Her mother, Ty Turner, repeatedly complained to the school,\u00a0according to a new lawsuit<\/a>, but the taunts and harassment continued. Kelaia ultimately decided she could no longer take the abuse. On March 17, 2023, Turner found Kelaia in her room, dangling from a belt wrapped around her neck. The child had tried to kill herself.<\/p>\n

\u201cShe was gone for eight whole minutes,\u201d Turner\u00a0told NBC affiliate WYFF-TV<\/a>. \u201cParamedics couldn\u2019t find a pulse, and they couldn\u2019t find her heartbeat. There were grown men in the room crying.\u201d<\/p>\n

Bottom of Form<\/p>\n

Kelaia survived but suffered severe brain damage and spent months in the hospital, including 31 days in a coma in intensive care,\u00a0according to the GoFundMe fundraiser<\/a>\u00a0created by her mother. Even in the hospital, though, the bullying continued: a classmate visited Kelaia in the ICU and took photos of her, which ended up on social media.<\/p>\n

In a statement to\u00a0The Washington Post<\/a>, Greenville County Schools denied the allegations.\u00a0\u201cThe school and district administrations investigated and addressed each of the reported incidents in accordance with policy and law,\u201d\u00a0according to the statement<\/a>. No parent concerns or reports of bullying were ignored, and all were directly addressed with the student\u2019s mother. While we do not agree with the allegations, our hearts go out to Kelaia Tecora Turner, her mother, and their family.\u201d<\/p>\n

Kelaia\u2019s heartbreaking story, detailed in a lawsuit against the Greenville County school system, reflects a national crisis: studies\u00a0show four in 10 Black K-12 students<\/a>\u00a0face bullying in school, much of it is based on their race, and most school districts lack the resources to help or protect them.<\/p>\n

Bullying Black Students Is a National School Crisis<\/strong><\/p>\n

A\u00a02023 report from The Public Health Post<\/a>\u00a0found that although Black students make up 15 percent of all students in the nation\u2019s K-12 public school system, they account for 37 percent of students who experience bullying. Experts believe the percentage is likely wider than reported, given that students of color are\u00a0less likely to report being bullied<\/a>\u00a0due to mistrust of the school system.<\/p>\n

Often, schools\u2019 responses to racial bullying against Black students fail to address the severity and prevalence of the abuse. A\u00a02021 policy brief from The Intercultural Development Research Association<\/a>\u00a0found that schools frequently lack the resources to recognize and respond to the specific type of trauma bullied Black students suffer.<\/p>\n

Additionally, the Department of Education\u2019s Office for Civil Rights has identified instances where\u00a0schools have turned a blind eye<\/a>\u00a0to known acts of racial harassment.<\/p>\n

At the same time, studies show an alarming rise in suicide rates among Black youth. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention\u00a0reported in 2023\u00a0<\/a>that while the suicide rate between 2018 and 2021 among Black school-aged kids fell from 14% to 10%, it was still increasing faster than any other racial or ethnic group. Their study also found that more than 6 in 10 Black youths who attempted suicide did so due to racism and school bullying.<\/p>\n

These incidents not only perpetuate hostile school environments but further exacerbate mental distress, which can disrupt their education and academic achievement.<\/p>\n

The Mental Health Toll in the Classroom<\/strong><\/p>\n

Persistent bullying, especially, can lead to decreased academic performance, increased absenteeism, and higher dropout rates. A\u00a02024 report from The Journal of Early Adolescence<\/a>\u00a0found that students who are subjected to bullying scored lower on standardized tests and received poorer grades than their non-bulled peers.<\/p>\n

The compounded stress\u00a0from bullying can trigger<\/a>\u00a0anxiety, depression, and self-harm, including thoughts of suicide. But without culturally competent mental health resources \u2014 psychologists and counselors who understand racism and the Black experience \u2014students are often left without the support that can help them.<\/p>\n

A Strong Call for Change\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

Kelaia, now 14, is unable to speak or feed herself and can\u2019t breathe on her own,\u00a0according to the lawsuit<\/a>. Her parents provide the bulk of the around-the-clock care she requires, beginning at 2 a.m. and with little respite.<\/p>\n

Turner, her mother, says she believes that, despite the excruciatingly painful circumstances, \u2014 her child has a purpose and can help others.<\/p>\n

\u201cKelaia advocating for Kelaia should have been enough, and it wasn\u2019t,\u201d Turner\u00a0told The Washington Post<\/a>. \u201cMe advocating for Kelaia wasn\u2019t enough. So now what we want to do is make sure that we are shining a light on [bullying] and trying to set a precedent so that these schools are compelled to address this.\u201d<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

How schools fall short of dealing with harassment and lack of mental health resources for vulnerable students. By\u00a0Quintessa Williams, Word In Black Special to The Truth For more than a year, 14-year-old Kelaia Turner endured bullying from schoolmates and even her teacher at Dr.\u00a0Phinnize J. Fisher\u00a0Middle School in Greenville, South Carolina. They teased her about […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[],"wf_post_folders":[269],"class_list":["post-14652","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-education"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/wordpress.thetruthtoledo.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14652","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/wordpress.thetruthtoledo.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/wordpress.thetruthtoledo.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/wordpress.thetruthtoledo.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/wordpress.thetruthtoledo.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=14652"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/wordpress.thetruthtoledo.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14652\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":14653,"href":"http:\/\/wordpress.thetruthtoledo.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14652\/revisions\/14653"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/wordpress.thetruthtoledo.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=14652"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/wordpress.thetruthtoledo.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=14652"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/wordpress.thetruthtoledo.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=14652"},{"taxonomy":"wf_post_folders","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/wordpress.thetruthtoledo.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/wf_post_folders?post=14652"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}