A 17-year-old student endured constant racist harassment at her predominantly white school in Texas, and when she fought back, the student was sent to an alternative program where she would have to wear an orange jumpsuit, driving the girl to be hospitalized in a mental facility.
Before Autumn Roberson-Manahan’s mental breakdown, she was a top contender for valedictorian at Slaton High School in Slaton, Texas.
In October, she asked another student to stop using the N-word four days in a row, but he refused. Administrators and school staff ignored her parents’ complaints. So, Autumn said she snapped, grabbed the boy by the hood of his sweatshirt and yelled at him between slaps on the top of his head.
“You’re gonna learn! … To stop! … That f——! … N—– sh-t!”
The incident was just a sample of what the nearly two dozen Black students at Autumn’s school experienced, according to one of two civil rights complaints filed by the Intercultural Development Research Association, the local NAACP and a group of Black parents and students. They are calling on the federal government to launch a civil investigation into Slaton High and Laura Bush Middle School, also in Texas.
The complaints allege that Black students experienced “a daily onslaught of racialized taunts, threats and jeers from other students.” They accused Slaton ISD and Lubbock-Cooper ISD of failing to protect Black students from racial bullying and harassment in their schools and imposing inappropriate and harmful discipline against those students.
According to the complaint, Black students were sentenced to the district’s disciplinary alternative educational program (DAEP) “without evidence or in violation of state and federal law.”
A Black girl was sent to DAEP on the first day of school after the nurse scanned her face with a blacklight accusing her of using marijuana because she found glowing “specks” on her cheek and chin. She was referred to the program for 30 days.
Autumn’s brother was also referred to DAEP for 30 days before school even started because Staton’s principal said he was “guilty by association” for something he alleges he had nothing to do with.
While at the alternative school, students had to change into an orange jumpsuit, according to the complaints. The advocacy groups argue that DAEP has a record of leading to loss of instructional time and decreased interest in academics and could increase the risk of substance abuse, juvenile delinquency and dropping out.
“Adding insult to injury, Black students were then forced to endure other students in DAEP hurling racial slurs on a daily basis — calling the Black students the “N-word” and “porch monkeys”; telling a Black girl “you aren’t worth anything”; and making “monkey sounds” at them,” the Staton complaint said.
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