‘I can’t say anything’: Alabama students, parents fight impact of racist video

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Jocelyn Logan’s high school son received a Snapchat two weeks ago.

In it, a white student chanted “white power” and “kill all n —- rs”.

“In a community like this, that includes my son,” said Logan, who is white but whose son is one of the few black students at Cullman High School. “And it really made me very sick. Very, very sick.

The video comes as Alabama schools adapt to state guidelines on anti-bullying and non-discrimination, including a recent state resolution aimed at what teachers should teach on race and racism in the classroom. But parents in one district in northern Alabama say the system needs to do more to make students of color feel safe on campus.

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In recent years, a few school districts in Alabama – most of them predominantly white – have addressed similar incidents, where white students are recorded uttering racist threats or using symbols of hate.

At schools in Cullman City, leaders say they are taking similar steps to tackle discipline and provide educational “awareness” of diversity after consulting with state leaders about the video, which was filmed in a basement off campus. As the incident took place outside the school grounds, principals told parents they did not have the power to discipline the students involved.

Superintendent Kyle Kallhoff said the system has not received any official complaints this year for racist speech or threats.

But he told AL.com last week that the system received the Snapchat video on November 4 and is working with a lawyer to determine next steps. He added that if there was “no specific policy with reference to off-campus speech, off-campus speech may violate council policy depending on the context and its impact on the general school climate.”

“Obviously, this is inappropriate. It’s just inappropriate, ”Alabama State Superintendent Eric Mackey said of the video, which he said Kallhoff discussed with him on a call this week.

“Children must learn”

Sometimes incidents at school trigger community dialogue and policy changes. But this process is not always smooth.

In 2019, a video of white college students using racist and anti-Semitic slurs surfaced in Hoover, who had just started making headway in desegregation efforts. A year later, in nearby Mountain Brook, a diversity committee met to include provisions regarding hate speech and symbols after one student drew a swastika on another student’s back . The committee also planned to enroll Mountain Brook teachers in anti-bias training – but the district backed down this summer after some parents criticized the training provider.

Mackey said the state sometimes advises school leaders on disciplinary matters and best practices. He also checks codes of conduct to make sure schools are complying with the Jamari Terrell Williams Act, which aims to protect students from identity-based harassment and bullying.

But the state has no provision for the broader racial threats that do not occur on school grounds, he said, so it is largely up to individual districts to decide how they will discipline them. students or make changes to the policy or curriculum.

“If there was a program we could do that would ensure that no child ever got off the line, we probably would have done it already,” Mackey said. “I mean, it’s just that the kids have to learn. They have to grow up and make mistakes. We correct these errors and move on. I think that’s what you see in this community, is that people on both sides of the issue agree that mistakes have been made on the part of the kids and need to be addressed.

But as Cullman’s leaders plan their response, some parents and students wonder if real change will happen.

“A terrible error in judgment”

In the 11-second video, a boy is lounging on a couch while filming another boy across the room, who shouts “kill all n —- rs” and “white power”.

The speaker’s mother is Cullman School Board President Amy Carter, who said her son was imitating a TikTok and didn’t know it was recorded until four days later, when another child uploaded the video to Snapchat.

Carter told AL.com on Tuesday that after the video aired two weeks ago, she immediately discussed it with her son, who she said “was the cutest child you could ever meet” and he was “devastated that his words hurt other people.”

She couldn’t tell why her son felt comfortable repeating those words.

“If I knew the answer to that, I would probably feel a lot better today, but we don’t know the answer to that question except that it was a terrible error in judgment,” Carter said.

She declined to comment on how the board handled the incident, but pointed out that her son had apologized to several students. She also said she could not give details of what the board intends to change regarding diversity policies or programs in the future, if any, but would support any statements or decisions. announced at an upcoming board meeting.

Efforts to reach the parent of the student who filmed the video were unsuccessful. But according to Logan and two students at the school, the only known punishment for Carter’s son was running laps in basketball practice. Logan said she wanted the school to adopt a zero tolerance policy and institute training for teachers.

“It’s not just [my son]”Logan said.” This is about the ripple of how it affects future kids in the school system. “

“It’s just standardized”

Logan, who teaches in a nearby district, enrolled his son in schools in the town of Cullman five years ago. She knew there was little diversity in the school system, which is roughly 93% white, but she hoped teachers and students would make him feel welcome.

Then her son started telling her about incidents.

The first racist video came to college, when students filmed themselves shouting threats and insults at black video game characters, she said. Then came the comments – the students called her son a monkey, she said, and said they could only see his smile in the dark. Last year, she said, a student changed his screen name to “Nick Ger” in a classroom game of Kahoot.

“You have a handful of minority students in the school system and they need to feel safe in school,” Logan said. “They need to feel that their school system is going to protect them from these atrocities – even the verbiage in this video is awful. But it’s not that far from Cullman, either.

Logan said the problems at the school mirror those in the community, where only 1% of the population is black. Confederate flags outnumber churches and Dollar Generals, she said, and she saw the N word spelled out in the craft section of Walmart – two things that worried her about her son.

“It’s a very big problem in this city because people don’t understand racism,” she said. “They have lived in the same community all of their lives. They have never experienced anything different. And so they don’t think it’s a big deal.

Two tenth grade Cullman students, who represent only a handful of black students in their school, said they believe the environment allows their white peers to freely use racial slurs.

“Nobody is doing anything about it,” said one college student, who is black and biracial. “Like the friends they tell them don’t defend anyone, so it’s just normalized.”

“They don’t feel alone,” added her friend, who is African American.

“There is no one else like us”

About 50 parents and students filled the dining hall at Cullman’s West Elementary School on Tuesday night, where Superintendent Kyle Kallhoff addressed the video, which he said had made “racial statements.”

“The city of Cullman school system does not support racist statements, will not tolerate racism or racially motivated statements of hate,” Kallhoff said, noting that the system had “corrected the situation” in accordance with the code of practice. district leadership and is currently consulting the state on “best practices and strategies that encourage acceptance of others despite differences.”

He added that the system adheres to the state’s recent resolution on “intellectual freedom,” which declares that teachers should not teach that one race or gender is superior to another. The resolution, developed amid a nationwide controversy over the so-called Critical Race Theory, was challenged by some teachers and students over concerns that it would limit discussions of race and racism in the classroom.

As the meeting closed, a group of parents and some Cullman high school students answered questions. Officials have calmed the group, which did not register in time for public comment.

Kallhoff then approached Logan, who questioned his ability to deal with racist bullying and harassment. She mentioned a 2020 federal lawsuit investigating the suicide of McKenzie Adams, whose family claimed she was racially and sexistically bullied at schools in Demopolis, where Kallhoff had worked before coming to Cullman.

“You are here and do the same in our schools! ” she screamed.

Kallhoff did not respond.

For the two tenth graders, the video was just one of many incidents they said made them feel isolated and less safe in a predominantly white school. They wanted the system to impose tougher penalties on their peers who use racial slurs – rather than “just run to basketball practice.” They also questioned the integrity of the board, which they said made them feel inaudible.

“I feel like everyone at school is against me,” one of the students said after the board meeting. ” I can not say anything. I just have to face it, because they all laugh at it and think it’s funny.

His friend added, “because there is no one else like us.”

Kallhoff told AL.com that the board continues to consult with heads of state but does not have a clear timeline on when changes will be made. The district has not yet made a decision on whether to change the code of conduct.

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