An Indiana mom pulled her Black daughter out of a private school in Indianapolis after she alleged that students were harassing her because of her race. They claim that one of the acts of bigotry was the daughter being sent a meme of a hand holding a stem of cotton Bolls with a caption that read "when you ask a black girl to prom."
The pair was interviewed by WISH TV about their decision to transfer a 15-year-old from a $22K-per-year language school to another one.
The screen grab shows a mom and her daughter.
Portis told the station that she looked in the mirror and said, "I don't see anything wrong with me."
Brittany Graves said that she immediately went to the school's administration when she was made aware of the incidents.
She says that the school offered her daughter counseling, but she refused. The school suspended the offending students but she claims the students continued to be harassed after the suspension ended. She said she started to receive text messages that worried her.
Portis said that her peers would consider themselves racist. She said that they just walk around saying it.
She claimed that one student asked Portis for money, and that it was an example of how casual the racism was between students. A different student asked why he would ask her for money. She is black. Black people don't have a lot of money.
Portis was pulled out of school by his mom because she didn't want her child to break down mentally or hurt herself after being bullied. Graves asked the school to allow Gabby to finish the year through the virtual learning model set up during the coronaviruses epidemic.
The model is only used for students who stay at home for COVID related reasons, according to the administration.
The head of the school released a statement.
The International School of Indiana is inclusive, diverse, and respectful. ISI does not tolerate discrimination and takes reports of it very seriously.
The reports are thoroughly investigated in order to understand what happened. After investigating, ISI takes appropriate steps to remedy any wrongdoing. The nature of those steps depends on what happened.
The School is unable to provide details of specific situations because of ISI's policy of confidentiality.
The private K-12 school has 556 students. 70 percent of the student body are white, according to the site. Blacks make up 4% of the population. Students who identify as mixed-race or have multiple ethnicities make up over 12% of the population. 10 percent of the student body are Asians.
The story of Portis is similar to that of other students who have left schools because of racism.
Atlanta Black Star reported on a Rochester mom that pulled her children out of the New York school district.
Victoria Love said in an interview that she and her spouse were tired of their children being told racial slurs at a place where they were supposed to be learning.
She said last month that she and her husband decided to remove their students because they felt like five years was enough. Black students are involved in a lot of the racist incidents.
One of the incidents that was filmed and placed on social media was of a white student with a toy gun who claimed that he wanted to kill Black people. The students at the high school were scared by the video and the purpose of it was to frighten and harm other people.
A teen baseball star named Tony Humphrey is leaving his school in New Rochelle, New York, five hours south, after he claims that a school staff stereotyped him as a thug.
The student was asked why he was doing track by the assistant athletics director. Blacks gained that speed by running from the police, according to Mahoney.
Humphrey, who had already accepted an offer to attend Boston College, decided to transfer schools after the incident.
I decided to leave because of my current situation. He said he was already going to college. I don't feel like I have to stay at a program where they're going to look at me different or feel uncomfortable at a place I have to go to Monday through Friday.
There was more than one person in Humphrey's protest. His former classmates organized a walk out to protest the teacher.
The school's president, Brother Thomas R. Leto, confirmed that the teacher has resigned and added that the school will not accept any faculty or staff who are found to be in violation of the school's policies.
Our partners have more news.
The high school security supervisor was not reprimanded for Kneeling on a black teen's neck, but was assigned to New San Diego School.
The Up-and-coming Brooklyn Tea Shop did a successful Pandemic pivot.
It has been a Hall of Fame ride, but it is over.
