18 Racist Classroom Incidents That Will Make You SMH [Updated]

Students at Diablo View Middle School in New York were accused of coming in to school and handing out cotton balls as favors to celebrate Black History Month, per KTVU. At first, the school kept the situation hushed. Then, parents found out from their kids about the incident and demanded action. The students involved have been suspended.

A Black 6th grader at Pepper Tree Elementary School in California received a series of racist drawings from her peers. One read, “To: my favorite monkey” and another addressed to “my favorite cotton picker.” The disturbing images of monkeys and cotton balls floating on the page got swept under the rug by the school district for two weeks.

No discipline has been announced for the students responsible but the victim has been withdrawn from the school.

A couple Black students at Kenwood Elementary School took the idea of reparations a bit too harshly my forcing their white peers into submission. The kids allegedly forced a group of white students to declare “Black lives matter” or suffer the physical consequences of being dragged, punched or chased about the playground. The students involved may face menace and assault charges.

A Black student at West Sylvan Middle School was forced to the ground and knelt on by two students who threatened to “George Floyd” him. His father said his son was headed to the water fountain when he was approached by the two others and pretended to police officers by mocking turning off their body cameras. They said they were going to wait 20 seconds while pressing the boy to the ground. The two students were “disciplined” but the school district failed to alert all community parents of the situation.

At Westbrook Elementary School, school staff found not one but two occasions, racist graffiti reading “KKK” over positive messages scattered about the school, WTOP. The police were called to investigate before it was removed. Just weeks before this incident, racist and antisemitic drawings were found inside the school desks.

Parents of Culver City Middle and High School shared with the school board a series of racially motivated threats their kids were subject to, per Los Angeles Daily News.

Another parent said her daughter returned home with missing hair and bloody hands after having her nails ripped off by bullies. One student allegedly brought a soft-air pellet gun to campus. The violent attacks have been consistent and sent kids to the doctor and therapy

If you’re wondering where the security guard was, he had been fired after telling a Black student to kill herself because Black people deserve to die.

What a way to kick off this list of shameful student behavior. A group of Chicago students planned a walk-out last year in response to the poor handling of their classmates who marched into Halloween dressed up Nazis.

According to the Chicago Tribune, the students at Jones College Prep were caught goose-stepping and giving Nazi salutes. However, Principal Joseph Powers insisted in an email to parents that the students did no harm wearing “an East German (communist era) border guard uniform from the 1980s.”

That is certainly a lot of words to describe...a Nazi costume.

Both the parents and students who accused the culprits of antisemitism weren’t having it. Soon enough, Powers came with an apology (if you want to call it that) but ended up being removed from his job.

Imagine little ol you as a student, raising your hand to go to the bathroom. Then, when you open the door, across from the mirrors and sinks is a threat to your life...

South California parents held a rally demanding school administration take action for this very incident: a seriously threatening message that appeared inside of a girls bathroom. The culprits in this case were elementary students.

Per an NBC Bay Area report, students at Thornhill Elementary School are accused of writing “Black lives don’t matter/Kill them all” on the bathroom wall. After the parents were alerted of this, they demanded accountability.

The superintendent promised a resolution but unfortunately, the change must begin at home where the students learned this hateful language.

A group of students at South High School in Torrance, Ca. sent an offensive set of text messages to a Black student telling them to “go back to Africa.” *yawn* Same insults, different age group.

According to CBS News, the text included racial slurs and read “you don’t fit in with the rest of us.” All that and they could’ve just kept it simple and quoted Mean Girls: “You can’t sit with us!” The messages were accompanied by a 5-year-old video of a few teenagers laughing while hurling racial slurs at the camera.

Anyways, many Black students didn’t feel safe returning to school following the rapid circulation of the video. One student told CBS she’d been told the same insults when she was in 8th grade.

The Torrance Unified School District gave the typical we’ll-look- into-it response.

A North Carolina mother shared on her Facebook that her biracial son had been sold in a mock slave auction. She said he went for $350.

According to ABC News, the incident happened at a school in the Chatham County Schools district. Ashley Palmer wrote in a lengthy post that her son came home to tell her all about it: one student named himself as the slave master because “he knew how to handle them” and at one point, the students were harmonizing the N-word.

Palmer also said her son was hit repeatedly by the “slave master” with a baseball.

The superintendent responded with an apology and announcement that the school board was going to adopt policies to address acts of racism beyond the lousy one-day suspension the students of concern were given.

Two students at Barrington High School Illinois performed a skit back in 2016 reenacting a slave auction.

According to NBC Chicago, the skit was part of their “roll call” where various schools participate, creating a performance based on Greek and Roman cultures. In this performance, the student wrapped a chain around the other student’s neck and said, “Today we are going to have a Barrington bro for sale.”

Boooooo! Boring, throwing tomatoes.

Parents and students were left disturbed at the skit forcing the Barrington School District to issue an apology addressing it. One student from the skit apologized the next day and apparently he and his stage buddy were investigated by the school.

A group of student athletes got in BIG trouble (I’m talking cancelling the rest of the season trouble) after the school caught wind of their involvement in a mock slave auction.

Everyone beware: what happens in the locker room doesn’t always stay in the locker room.

According to CBS News, a group of football players from River Valley High School in Yuba City, Ca. were seen in a video re-enacting a slave auction. The video showed a group of white students shouting at a few Black students in front of them. The students involved were banned from playing the rest of the season which caused them to forfeit the season due to an insufficient amount of players.

The NAACP came to the defense of three students involved because they claimed to be punished more harshly than their white peers. Upon apologizing for the incident, they attributed their behavior to “peer pressure.”

Students at Charles Page High School planned a walk-out in response to their peers handing out “white privilege” cards in the hallways.

According to Fox23 News, the cards are sold on Amazon but this was the first time they were spotted in a classroom. One student told reporters they were called a racial slur while being handed a card. The cards were simply the last straw for students of color following a long string of racist incidents at the school.

Before this, a picture of a Black student was sent on Snapchat, offering a cash reward “if caught.”

The Sand Springs Public Schools superintendent commended the students for reporting the incident and standing up against racism to make their voices heard, per Tulsa World. The students dealing out the cards were reported to face punishment though it was unspecified.

A white cheer squad was in hot water after being seen posing in a picture with their makeshift mascot: the head of a Black mannequin. They named it “Kareem.”

Parents of Black students were infuriated and the superintendent called the image “offensive” and “racist” in a statement sent out to the school district families, per KTVU. One mother claimed the squad’s racism was why her Black daughter didn’t make the team. I understand the heartbreak (I didn’t make the team either) but I wouldn’t want these girls as teammates.

One Karen or cheer mom slammed the superintendent for his statement, claiming it resulted in her team being bullied and their reputation ruined. Her lawyer alleged the mannequin was given to the girls to “practice protective hairstyles.”

Yea... like we’re supposed to believe that.

A high school student was charged with a hate crime after whipping his Black classmate.

Per an AP News report, the incident happened at Vandebilt Catholic High School in the cafeteria where every student is bound to be on their cellular devices. Luckily, they caught this one on camera.

The 15-year-old white freshman walked up behind a Black student whipped him with his belt. The white boy also threw cotton balls at the student for some razzle dazzle. Clearly this wasn’t a mimic of how we used to get whooped by our parents or grandparents back in the day. This boy was playing slave master.

The Black student did stand up and pushed him away. Later, the white teen was arrested on hate crime and battery charges.

Finally, some justice.

Back again with the hate crime charges. Four middle school students in Florida were accused of participating in a “racially motivated crime.”

Plot twist, the culprits were Black!

According to NBC News, a group of Black kids from Lyons Creek Middle school attacked a group of white students one morning. “It’s Opposite Day! Brown power!” the victims heard them scream just seconds before being punched and kicked repeatedly. The kids were also hit with sticks and charger cords.

One of the victims said they were told the beating was revenge for slavery. Obviously those students misinterpreted reparations for “beat they ass.”

A white South Columbus High School student was reprimanded after a video went viral of them exclaiming the N-word.

According to WCET 6 Wilmington, a former student posted the video to her Facebook after current students sent it to her. In the video, the student walks around screaming, “I’m with the n———-. Down with the n———! White power. White power!” while pumping his fist in the air.

Good ol’ unprovoked racism... and lack of regard for the digital footprint.

Columbus County Schools Superintendent Dr. Deanne Meadows denounced the incident and said disciplinary action has been taken.

The varsity boys hockey team at Danvers High School in Massachusetts were accused of “ugly behavior” by city officials. Among that behavior was assaulting another student with a dildo but also creating a trend of “hard-r Fridays.”

I think we can all guess what that is supposed to mean. According to the Boston Globe, it was a team tradition. That same hockey team was accused of celebrating “Gay Tuesdays” by stripping naked together and also making jokes of the violent deaths of Black people in a group chat no one human’s eyes should be exposed to.

In one text, they mocked an image of a Black student as if he was being lynched.

This behavior has been going on for years now but despite complaints, the players continued to escape accountability. Why? Maybe because the school’s previous hockey head coach was a Danvers cop. Town leaders have decided the most effective way of addressing the issue is by ignoring it happening at all.

Students in Wyoming thought it humorous to show up in white robes and hoods and carrying American flags. They also burned crosses on the school soccer field.

Their punishment? We may never know. According to CNN, two students of Riverton High School walked in wearing their KKK robes with smiles on their faces as if their threatening attire was worth a laugh.

Fremont County School District Superintendent Terry Snyder called the gig a “very poor decision” and said the students didn’t “understanding the impact” of their actions. One activist argued that they knew exactly what they were doing, claiming the Klan is still operating in that part of Wyoming.

“Disciplinary” measures were taken against the students, though Snyder almost defended the students saying they didn’t express any “offensive remarks” or “racist ideologies.”

The white hood wasn’t enough for you?!

Students at Park Hill South High School created a petition on social media to bring back slavery, per the Kansas City Star.

The district was reluctant to share any more details about the matter but they surely spent a lot of time explaining themselves to those who were left disgusted by it. Forums were set up for both parents and students to express their complaints about it.

The school district spokesperson said the incident called for discipline, though, it remained unclear what the disciplinary action was going to be.

The high school’s principal, Kerrie Herren, said the school does not tolerate discrimination or harassment. Other staff members gave more of the “let’s heal from this and move forward” types of statements.

What ended up coming of the culprits is unknown.