Mum’s pride as daughter, six, delivers racism talk after abuse
DISTRAUGHT SCHOOLGIRL TRIED TO ‘SCRATCH OFF DARK SKIN’
A Six-year-old girl who tried to “scratch her dark skin off” after being racially abused at school has hit back at the bullies by helping teachers host a lesson in racism.
Kacie Castro bravely stood in front of her entire class at Cleeve Primary School in Bransholme to talk openly about how sad she felt after she was racially abused.
Another pupil had told Kacie she did not want to sit next to her because she is “allergic to brown people”, a nasty racist remark that was heard by a teacher.
Mum Louise Ellerby, 37, said she was initially “raging” when she found out her daughter was racially abused on Wednesday.
She said: “The school rang me and said ‘your kids haven’t done anything, but you’re not going to be happy’, so I asked what had happened and she told me.
“I was raving, I was saying ‘that is my daughter, no one has the right to treat her like that’. I was shaking, I was angry and swearing.
“This child wasn’t wanting to sit next to Kacie because she was brown. She had said ‘I’m allergic to brown people’ and the teacher heard it.
“Kacie came out of school, didn’t say anything about it. The school told me not to ask kh her, but b I asked kd her, I said ‘I’m not happy’, I said ‘right, you don’t listen to anything anyone says about you, you are beautiful.’
“It breaks my heart, to a six-yearold girl, it’s really upsetting. That’s my daughter, that’s my little girl. Don’t be racist towards my daughter.
“I’ve had to sit and listen to her say, ‘Mummy I Id don’t ’ want to b be brown’ and she’s tried to scratch her brown skin off.
“We’re in 2020 now, not in 1970. It should be acceptable now. I feel guilty because I worry about what kind of world my kids will grow up in.
Ms Ellerby said her initial anger about the situation has turned to
pride as her daughter’s school have taken the issue seriously and tried to help children understand why there is no place for racism with a lesson the very next day.
She said: “But I’ve calmed down now. I do believe that the school has handled it really well.
“They had her up in front of the class and she was telling them how it makes her feel.
“She is shy and she does have anxiety, but she did it. She’s just so special.
“Yesterday, she came home different child, she had done lesson on mixed race people.
“She had told the class why she gets upset about it and she was told she is beautiful and that they love her afro and they really boosted her ”confidence.”
Ms Ellerby said while her son Kaiden, seven, had also been racially a a abused at school two years ago, the family had not been abused in the community.
A spokesman for the school said: “At Cleeve Primary School our staff are committed and work hard to help all our children become kind, caring and well-rounded individuals.
“We aim to do this by teaching Personal Social and Health Education (PSHE) through the Jigsaw programme which is a mindful approach to PSHE and aims to prepare children and young people for life’s challenges.
“Jigsaw includes helping children to understand diversity, explaining race, colour, creed and gender along with other areas of this type.
“Naturally, this encourages children to question the differences between themselves, helping them to discover their own uniqueness.”