RICHMOND, Mo. — The Richmond Missouri School District apologized earlier this week after one of its students yelled racial slurs toward the opposing team before a basketball game.
Since then, another family has come forward with complaints or racial bullying.
Bradley Baska says his two children have been dealing with micro-aggressions for six years at the district.
Despite a police report and multiple complaints to the district, Baska says the administration continues to look the other way.
His youngest, Mulan Baska, is an 8th grader at Richmond Middle School. She says joy has been taken out of learning because she is scared and annoyed to go to school.
“They say stuff like ‘Oh, stay away from my dog,’ and stuff like that. And they pull their eyes back and stuff and it’s like, just like annoying. Makes me really upset,” Mulan Baska said. “They probably won’t ever understand cause they are not me. And they’re like white, so they wouldn’t like get it. I don’t expect them to, but like, I just want them to stop bullying me.”
Speaking up has only backfired.
Mulan said she has already tried talking to the teachers and the bullies themselves.
According to Mulan, the teachers tell her to just “ignore it” and students often respond with retaliation.
“I just get called a snitch and they say they are gonna like beat me up or something,” Mulan Baska said. “They’re like ‘Oh, nobody else cares besides you. It’s not that big of a deal.’ And that they are just joking. And then they do it again.”
Even the school’s attempt at diversity training seem to have done more harm than good. Mulan Baska recalls a specific lesson that was held by a counselor.
“The lesson was all about not being racist, and then he just heard kids being racist during the lesson, and he didn’t even say anything,” Mulan Baska said.
According to the Richmond News, the school said it would investigate the Baska family’s claims.
KSHB 41 reached out again on Thursday to check the status of that investigation, and the district responded with a statement addressing the racial slurs that canceled this week’s basketball. They did not comment on the Baskas’ concerns.
“I’m sad that I can’t protect my children better than what I’m doing,” Bradley Baska said. “Not once has there been an assembly to say ‘Hey, this needs to stop. If you get caught doing this we’re gonna talk to your parents, if you get caught again you’re gonna get suspended.’ None of this has ever happened.”
Baska says this type of behavior creates a culture that accepts racism and bullying.
It also leads to detrimental consequences; the on-going bullying has made Mulan Baska want to abandon a part of her identity.
“Like thats like the main reason I don’t want to learn Chinese and I don’t wanna like do Asian stuff is because like if I did they would just make fun of me more,” Mulan Baska said.
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