Black Melrose student says classmates called her a 'monkey' and cut off her braid (2024)

Schools

It's the second civil rights complaint in the district filed this month.

By Beth Treffeisen

June 13, 2024

In a new federal civil rights complaint, a Melrose student says classmates called her a “monkey” and “ape” and cut off her braid without permission.

The details are outlined in the complaint filed Thursday by Lawyers for Civil Rights with the U.S. Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights against the Melrose Public Schools for the ongoing and persistent failure to prevent or address racial bullying and violence.

Lawyers filed the complaint on behalf of Kai, an 11-year-old Black student in the fifth grade who allegedly experienced escalating incidents of racial bullying, as white classmates called her racial epithets repeatedly and cut off one of her braided hair extensions during class.

“My daughter should never have to deal with being called a ‘monkey’ or an ‘ape’ or having her braids cut, but the fact that the school did nothing to prevent future incidents makes the problem even worse, and it emboldens the racist bullies,” said Kai’s mother, Kerrin Gibbs, in a statement. “The district failed to ensure that my daughter’s learning environment is safe from racial attacks.”

According to the complaint, at Winthrop Elementary School, only 12 out of the 401 students identify as Black. Kai was only one of two Black students in her grade.

Kai is attending the school as part of the Metropolitan Council for Educational Opportunity (METCO), a program aimed at reducing segregation in public schools by enrolling Boston and Worcester students in suburban schools.

The complaint argues that the school’s failure to address and resolve these racial incidents violates Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964.

The legal action also follows similar complaints recently filed against Melrose and Southwick that showcased an anti-Black sentiment and a pattern of racial bullying and harassment.

Melrose was already a subject of oversight and monitoring after a 2015 incident of racial hostility.

On Tuesday, around 100 Melrose and Boston residents attended a rally for change following the alleged racist incidents.

“Schools are charged with keeping all children safe — including Black students,” said Michael Kippins, a litigation fellow at LCR, in a statement. “When an 11-year-old Black student cannot do work at her desk without her braided hair being unknowingly cut, or where she cannot make it past the second week of school without being called a monkey, the environment is dangerous.”

“Melrose needs to do much more to protect students of color from these escalating racial bullying attacks,” he continued.

Timeline of what happened:

Since September of last year, Kai has experienced “severe and persistent racial bullying” at the Winthrop Elementary School in Melrose, the complaint says.

Less than two weeks into school, the complaint says that Kai’s white classmate called her a “monkey.” Not long after, another white student reportedly said, “That monkey looks like you,” referring to a character from a math app.

Then, in December, another white student walked by Kai in the cafeteria and referred to her as “an ape-like Kai,” according to the complaint.

In April this year, Kai said she was hot while playing outside. In response, a white student allegedly told her that the sun is more attracted to her because she is Black.

All of these incidents were demoralizing and stigmatizing, the complaint says, causing her to “come home crying and making her feel unsafe and uncomfortable around her classmates.”

In the most recent incident last month, one or more of her classmates cut off several inches of Kai’s braided hair extension without her knowledge or consent while she was doing classwork in school.

As a Black girl who wears braids as part of her personal expression, the most recent incident, the complaint says, was particularly harmful because it was a physical assault and also an attack on her cultural identity.

Kai and her parents repeatedly brought these racial incidents to the school district’s attention, but school officials failed to take action to prevent further race-based incidents meaningfully, according to the complaint.

Her parents are considering removing Kai from the school district altogether.

As a result of these incidents, the complaint says, Kai has been traumatized, and the experiences have caused significant “humiliation, stigma, fear, and danger.”

The complaint says, “She often cries at home, feels hopeless, has trouble sleeping, has trouble with her grades, and isolates herself, none of which occurred prior to the racial bullying incidents.”