A Tennessee school district has agreed to reforms following a federal investigation that uncovered racist harassment. This included a Black student being called racial slurs and subjected to a mock slave auction where he was “sold” to white peers.
In a settlement with the Hawkins County School District, the US Department of Justice (DOJ) mandated significant policy changes after determining the district had been “deliberately indifferent to known race-based harassment,” thereby violating Black students’ equal protection rights.
The DOJ’s investigation, initiated last year, revealed incidents where white students repeatedly used the N-word and conducted a “monkey of the month” campaign to mock Black students. One Black student, referred to as KR, faced continuous abuse, including encountering a staged slave auction in a school bathroom where he was “sold” to the highest bidder.
Additional incidents included students circulating a drawing of Ku Klux Klansmen and adding a Black student to a group chat filled with racist slurs. Despite complaints, the district failed to act, according to the mother of one of the fewer than five Black students among the school’s 400 students.
“No student should endure mock slave auctions or racial slurs intended to invoke a shameful period in our country’s history when Black people were treated as subhuman,” stated Kristen Clarke, assistant attorney general of the DOJ’s civil rights division.
Clarke affirmed that the DOJ would ensure Hawkins County implements measures to eradicate racial discrimination in its schools.
The settlement requires the school district to implement eight reforms, including hiring new staff to address racism complaints, providing teacher training, and establishing processes to inform students and parents on reporting racist harassment.
“Our school system is – and always has been – dedicated to serving and protecting all students, regardless of race,” said Matt Hixson, director of schools at Hawkins County. “We entered into the agreement with the DOJ to continue pursuing those goals and look forward to future collaboration with the department.”