Racist incident reported at Burnside Elementary School | Local news

A student at Burnside Elementary School was repeatedly called a racially derogatory term, prompting Superintendent Bob Jaszczak and Principal Jen Grove to send a message to the Red Wing community.

Fourth-grader Amma Siah said she has been called the N-word by five students this school year, either during recess or when the teacher was not in the classroom. It was a continuation of derogatory comments students made in previous school years about her skin color and natural hair, said her mother, Amber Plank. Plank said it was “devastating” for her as a mother to hear her child describe what happens at school.

Siah said there are days when she doesn't want to go to school and doesn't feel safe there. She said she feels “disgusted, angry, wrathful” when a classmate calls her that word.

“It hurts so much when someone just says that out loud. I'm so disgusted and disappointed that they even say that,” she said.

In their message posted on the Red Wing School District's Facebook page on Sept. 18, Jaszczak and Grove urge parents to talk to their children about why it is never acceptable to use language that targets a person's race or background. The conversations are “critical” to helping students understand the impact of their statements and to creating a “positive environment” for students, Jaszczak and Grove wrote.

“As a school, we are committed to providing a safe, inclusive and respectful environment for all students. Any form of hurtful or discriminatory language is taken very seriously and we will address this situation to ensure it is corrected immediately,” Jaszczak and Grove wrote.

Siah said her classmates believe they are doing nothing wrong and it is OK to say the word. She said one of her classmates hears it regularly from a family friend.

“I think they find it weird to say the word and I think they just don't know what it means,” she said.

She said she wouldn't know what to say if something like that happened and didn't want to sit next to them at school. After she told a school staff member about the incident, the students spent the day in the office, she said.

Siah said it was discussed with her class, and Plank wants staff to have this conversation with more classes at the school. Siah said she would like to see the school hold an assembly about racist behavior and have a place where students who use that language can learn why it is wrong. The school also plans to have a visit from Red Wing High School's Black Student Union.

Plank said she can teach her child kindness and compassion, but some children hear “pretty hateful rhetoric,” she said. Schools need to educate children about discrimination because some students don't learn those lessons at home.

In previous school years, students would use derogatory terms for Siah's skin color and make fun of her natural hair color, Plank said. Her daughter understands what the students' comments mean. Her daughter has said that “life would be easier” if she wasn't black and she wishes she could change her hairstyle so the other kids wouldn't make fun of her.

Plank said her daughter's treatment made her wonder if she “bought my house in the wrong town.”

Her daughter loves going to school but says she doesn't want to go to school and some days she doesn't want to wake up, Plank said. She has cried with her daughter and cried alone about what her daughter is going through.

“As a mother, this hurts,” Plank said. “It's a lot to deal with. I wonder if I'm being negligent as a mother by continuing to send her to this school. It's the one place where I can't protect my baby.”