Black students and parents at Fordyce High School in Arkansas are outraged over the punishment of a white student who was caught on video beating up a Black student.
The high school headed by a white principal, Chase McCollum, reportedly delved out an equal punishment between the two boys, which caused students at the school to call foul. The Black boy’s schoolmates claimed that the teen had been a victim of repeated bullying, and school administrators failed to take action. In a show of solidarity for the victim, students protested by having a sit-in in the hallways.
On February 24, an altercation was recorded and shared on social media (the actual date of the melee hasn’t been confirmed). A fight between two students– one Black, the other white– went viral. The video showed a white male student pummeling a Black male student in what appeared to be a locker room. The victim appeared to not willingly fight the aggressive teen. Bystanders did nothing as the teen choked, punched, kicked and pushed the young man. The victim was placed in a chokehold until he fell unconscious, and the white boy continued kicking him in the head.
“The same amount of punishment, like, that’s not right,” said Enough Smith, a 2021 graduate of Fordyce Hgh School. “You can clearly see in the video that he didn’t want to fight the guy, and the guy still was picking on him, throwing shoes on him.”
The white boy’s punishment has since been changed to a modified expulsion.
The district’s superintendent wrote a statement regarding the matter on March 4 after calling an emergency board meeting.
“Due to the laws and regulations regarding confidentiality of student disciplinary issues, I can tell you only that our school board met in a special session for a student hearing yesterday. Following a closed hearing, as requested by the student, the Board voted to accept my modified recommendation of expulsion,” Dr. Judy Hubbell (who is also white) wrote. “Some have interpreted the inclusion of the word “modified” to mean that the student received an insufficient punishment or something less than an expulsion as defined by District policies and Arkansas law.”
Since both students are minors, their identities have been withheld.
“Again, I cannot violate the District’s obligation of confidentiality; however, I can assure you that I made my recommendation, and the Board accepted my recommendation, in compliance with Arkansas law, District policies, and the Fordyce High School Handbook.”
Regarding a solution to the accusations of school administrators not addressing bullies, Hubbell wrote.
“While we cannot change what has already happened, we can work together to try to prevent similar incidents from occurring in the future. Yesterday, the Martin Luther King, Jr. Commission reached out to me and offered to come to our campus to conduct an assembly on bullying. As of this morning, we have tentatively scheduled an assembly for March 17.”
The parents of the victim nor the school district have disclosed if the white teen will face assault charges. A punishment from the school is one thing, but the alleged aggressor should also face criminal charges.
Fordyce, Arkansas, is about 65 miles southwest of Little Rock. As of 2019, the town’s population was roughly 3,700 people, with 60% being Black people and 36.5% being white.
The high school is indicative of the town’s population with a 59% Black student body and 33.5% white student population.
The district and its board members aren’t reflective of the town’s demographic. Out of five school administrators in the small town, three are white. The school board is also 60% white.
