By: Suzie Glassman/NewsBreak Denver
(Castle Rock, CO) Prominent civil rights attorney Ben Crump, who represented the families of George Floyd and Breonna Taylor, called for the Douglas County School District to take action in a Twitter post this week.
Sharing a video that appeared on news channel Denver 7, Crump said, “A 14-yo boy can’t finish the year at his middle school in person because of racism! He reportedly was called the n-word & a monkey — and after he exposed discriminatory behavior to school admins, a group of students called for a LYNCHING.”
The post has more than 2,000 likes and 1,000 retweets.
DougCo's statements not enough
Earlier this week, DougCo superintendent Erin Kane repeated that racial slurs and discrimination are unacceptable in the district and referenced specific pages in the district's code of conduct and anti-harassment policies to make that point clear.
She also said that in today’s world, social media is 24/7 and that when kids post and harass each other on the weekend or during off-school hours, the issue still lands in the laps of teachers and school officials to handle.
While DougCo schools want to make kids feel safe, Kane said being a teacher or administrator is a much more difficult job than ever.
Yet, the racist posts to social media occurred during class at Castle Rock Middle School, according to a screenshot given to NewsBreak by Lacey Ganzy, whose son Jeramiah was the victim of the racist hate speech Crumb referred to.
Ganzy said Kane talked to her during the board meeting where she and her children gave public comment and said she'd just learned about their story and expressed surprise.
Ganzey said she never apologized. Instead, Kane told Lacey that she was easy to find if needed.
DougCo school board president Mike Peterson denounced the racist behavior from the dais but also has not reached out to Ganzy directly.
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