Lawsuit alleges schools didn’t stop racist attacks

The mother of a Hawkins County, Tennessee, eighth-grader says in a lawsuit filed this week that her son was repeatedly subjected to racially-motivated attacks, and the school system did nothing to stop them.

The lawsuit, filed in U.S. District Court in Greeneville Tuesday, details a slew of racially-motivated attacks by white students, at least three of which were recorded by the students and posted on social media. Erika Qualls contends in the lawsuit she repeatedly sought help from administrators at Church Hill Middle School and from Hawkins County Director of Schools Matt Hixson, but they either ignored or downplayed her complaints.

Qualls’ son “was regularly subjected to a pervasive, racially-hostile school environment in which he was repeatedly referred to by the ‘N-word’; subjected to a barrage of other racial epithets, such as ‘monkey’; shown hate-based depictions of a KKK member holding a torch and noose; taunted as the brunt of a ‘slave auction’; chased and ridiculed with a stuffed monkey; and shown depictions of African-American caricatures being stabbed and shot,” the lawsuit stated.

Qualls “alleges that Hawkins County Board of Education officials knowingly tolerated, condoned and were deliberately indifferent to the pattern of racial harassment suffered by (her son), thereby depriving him of equal access to educational opportunity and resulting in severe emotional injury,” the lawsuit continued.

Hixson said in a statement provided Thursday to the Tennessee Lookout the school system vehemently denies “that our school system tolerates racial discrimination or harassment of any kind.”

“When such allegations are brought to our attention regarding student conduct, we take steps to investigate the same and to discipline those found responsible,” Hixson said in the statement. “Hawkins County Schools and the many educators who work within our school system strive to create an environment where all students, regardless of their race, feel safe and welcome. And, we will defend ourselves in court against any claims to the contrary.”

Attorneys Larry Crain and Emily Castro, who represent Qualls, are seeking an injunction against the school system to prevent further abuse and $2.5 million in damages.

The lawsuit includes screenshots as proof of the abuse, including a photograph taken from a Snapchat video posted by white students at the school with the caption “monkey chasing monkey.” The video shows white students, one of whom was holding a stuffed monkey, taunting Qualls’ son, who is biracial, as he sought to flee.

According to the lawsuit, Hixson “blamed the COVID-19 epidemic for the outbreak of racial hatred among the students, whom he said spent so much time at home during the pandemic.”

Qualls’ son, the lawsuit stated, was one of only five minority students at Church Hill, which has a student population of roughly 400.