A Chatham County School found itself in the national spotlight. However, this is not the kind of attention that anyone could have imagined in 2022. A mock slave auction took place at J.S. Waters School in the community of Goldston which is less than an hour from Raleigh.
Ashley Palmer says her son and another child were targets of a slave trade and posted her anger and frustration that evening on Facebook.
“His friend ‘went for $350’ and another student was the Slave master because he ‘knew how to handle them,’” Ashley Palmer posted. “We even have a video of students harmonizing the N word. Since when were children so blatantly racist?”
Shortly after Palmer’s post, more Chatham County students and families came forward and shared their stories of racism in county schools. The community came together for a rally to end racism in schools. Several students shared their stories of experiencing racism in schools at a school board meeting.
As a response, the community created a list of actions and demanded change to the county’s disciplinary policy when dealing with racism. The list was submitted to Superintendent Anthony Jackson.
Read more about the story here.
