'Slave Auction' Raises Questions As TX Students Sell Classmates

A mock social media "slave auction"of Black students in Aledo, TX resulted in undisclosed disciplinary actions taken against the classmates involved, according to a report.

The "sale" was uncovered along with other claims of harassment and cyberbullying at the Daniel Ninth Grade Campus more than two weeks ago, local advocates told the Fort Worth Star-Telegram. In response, Superintendent Susan Bohn acknowledged in a statement that the incidents were race based and law enforcement authorities were investigating.

Bohn's statement, as reported by the Star-Telegram, reads as a blanket denunciation of in-school bigotry : "There is no room for racism or hatred in the Aledo ISD," it reads. "Using inappropriate, offensive and racially charged language and conduct is completely unacceptable and is prohibited by district policy."

Activists who reported the virtual auction provided a screenshot to the Star-Telegram depicting a Snapchat group — one with a name using a racial slur and another that went by "Slave Trade." Among the postings: one participant mulling over a bid of $100 for a student, while another suggested spending a single dollar on a classmate. The same activists say the "auction" was concocted by other students at the school.

Activist and Parker County Progressives leader Tony Crawford decried the cyberbullying event as “another in a long line of incidents that are swept under the rug.”

The district did not address specifics of the incident, nor what punishments were meted out to the students responsible for organizing the group online.

Parker County NAACP president Eddie Burnett said he learned about the incident Sunday. Since an Aledo school board meeting is already slated for April 19, Burnett said he will raise the issue there.

So far, the school has responded via an April 5 letter from Principal Carolyn Ansley to parents of the student body. In her words, “an incident of cyberbullying and harassment” has resulted in discussions about how others can be harmed by what the Star-Telegram termed "inappropriate and hurtful language."

The paper says the district has met with "all the students involved, as well as their parents."

In the release, Bohn said the district has made contact with the participants and their parents. And, the statement said, (we've) “made it clear that statements and conduct that targets a student because of his or her race is not only prohibited but also has a profound impact on the victims."

Bohn's statement concludes, “This incident has caused tremendous pain for the victims, their families, and other students of color and their families, and for that we are deeply saddened.”

While the Aledo auction is disturbing, it's not unprecedented.

An alleged mock slave auction was held at a wealthy private school in Bronxville, New York in 2019. According to a report, a white teacher held an auction that called for white fifth graders to place bids on their Black classmates. The teacher was subsequently fired, but was hired by another school district to teach at Cecil H. Parker Elementary — a school where 80 percent of the students are Black.

Another elementary school in Wilmington, North Carolina, came under fire after students played a Monopoly-styled role play game called "Escaping Slavery," to help explain the Underground Railroad. The game included illustrations of enslaved families and shackles, according to media reports. It also contained what was called a "Freedom Punch Card," which met repeat offenses with severe punishment and returned participants to plantation work as slaves.

In Mississippi, eighth-graders were asked to pretend they were enslaved and write letters discussing their "journey to America" and the family they "live with/work for." The local school district later apologized.

Aledo's online "auction" has brought condemnation from near and far — including from Black organizations, educators and community leaders. Just the same, the incident has so far generated more questions than answers.

Here are six questions the district hasn’t answered — and why it matters.

• Was this an isolated incident?

The public should know. This kind of behavior is well beyond a victimless prank. What else, if anything, have the students identified been involved in?

• The Aledo auction is unique, in that it appears organized by the students, not educators. Does that make the district less responsible? Shouldn't the district know whether similar incidents have happened in the past?

The community ought to know what the district believes its boundaries and responsibilities are.

• Is knowing that the district met with the accused students and their parents enough? Is that transparency, or should the community know what was said, and by whom, to address the issue?

To provide no details of the conversation between school officials, the offending students and their parents explains nothing about how the district reacts to an actual event in real time. Providing a generic condemnation of bigotry without applying it to this specific instance is like a police officer responding to a specific crime by issuing a statement stating "illegal activity is punishable by law."

• What punishment, if any, did the students face?

Again, this goes to the heart of the matter. How seriously does the district take an online assault on the safety of its students? Were the perpetrators given a warning? Detention? Suspension? And why would their punishment not be made as visible as the action they took to denigrate their classmates?

• What changes does the school plan to make to ensure this sort of incident never happens again?

Without demonstrable consequences, what's to dissuade other students from doing something similar? Worse, if it seems the students suffered no more than "a good talking-to," why would similar-minded students not try to up the ante by posting something more racist, just to discover where the district draws the line?

• How are Aledo high schoolers taught about slavery?

Perhaps the question should be whether these high schoolers truly appreciate the inherent viciousness of selling and owning human beings. But it's also possible they do. And, if these ideologies were passed on by their parents, the school has a bigger problem. The community deserves to know what district officials said to them for that reason, too. And those officials should make clear what they consider their responsibility in de-programming kids who consider a mock slave auction a "prank" that's all in good fun.

• At a school that’s 78 percent white, how are educators engendering safety for non-white students, especially as racially-motivated attacks have escalated over the past five years?

Ultimately, school officials everywhere need to step into the cold light of dawn to realize that not all racists are indoctrinated as adults by other bigots. Some are raised with those beliefs — and they're attending public school with everyone else's kids.

Simply saying that officials met with the offenders and their parents tells us only one thing for sure: the district would like the incident to disappear with as little fanfare as possible. It might. But how long will it be until something similar — or worse — happens?

Read more here: https://www.star-telegram.com/...