Black Girl Dies by Suicide in Utah School District Rife With Racism

[demmiblue]

Source: The Daily Beast

A 10-year-old Black girl who was a student in a Utah school district that had been the subject of a federal racism investigation hanged herself over the weekend, leaving her family distraught over what they say were unanswered calls to address bullying.

The girl’s mom, Brittany Tichenor, said she had contacted the Davis School District “multiple times” to discuss how her daughter Isabella was mistreated by her peers after starting fifth grade just months ago. Through sobs, Tichenor described during a news conference the relentless teasing that her daughter—one of just a few Black students at the Foxboro Elementary School—had endured without much help from school administrators.

“Even though my baby is gone, I’m going to make sure that I stand for Izzy,” Tichenor said on Monday. “And I’m going to make sure—for voices that can’t be heard like hers—that this will never happen again to any kid.”

The Salt Lake Tribune first reported on the tragic death of Isabella, who was also autistic, within months of the start of the new school year.

Read more: https://www.thedailybeast.com/black-student-isabella-tichenor-dies-by-suicide-in-davis-school-district-where-doj-says-racism-is-rife

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Link to tweet

[marble falls]

1. Just totally saddening.

[olegramps]

31. The LDS is a major factor in the hatred of Blacks in Utah. It can not be ignored.

[marble falls]

32. And yet it's one the fastest growing religions in Africa ...

Latter-day Saints Experience Unprecedented Growth in Africa
[Search domain news-gh.churchofjesuschrist.org] https://news-gh.churchofjesuschrist.org › latter-day-saints-experience-unprecedented-growth-in-africa-
The groundbreaking growth in the Africa West Area may be unprecedented in the history of the Church's growth in modern times. During the last quarter of the year, three new stakes were created on successive weekends in West Africa. "Creating three stakes in one Area of the Church is a very rare event," said Elder Vinson, "or at least it has been until now.

[Uncle Joe]

2. Rest in peace Isabella

[Demovictory9]

3. ..

[jmbar2]

4. This makes my heart hurt so badly

How does a 10-year old child even figure out how to commit suicide? And in such an awful way. she was in pain that we cannot even imagine.

I am so sorry Izzy. May you find the peace you were seeking.

It didn't have to be this way.

[atreides1]

5. Well

I'm really not surprised...remember kids have to learn to hate and those kids had good teachers, who were actually teachers...and I don't doubt that mom and dad didn't have a hand in their education...

[Solly Mack]

6. I'm so sorry baby girl.

[secondwind]

7. I have no words.......

[rockfordfile]

8. Utah has a white-trash problem

[dalton99a]

13. And Mormons really believe in the Curse of Cain - Black people must be punished

[Vdizzle]

26. Correct.

Just ask an LDS why a black person could not “hold the priesthood” until 1978. Crickets… “living prophet, blah blah blah”…crickets.

It’s entrenched racism at its disgusting finest.

[sakabatou]

9. "We take all incidents and reports of bullying seriously."

Oh, bullshit!

[marieo1]

10. So sad

Breaks my heart.......where were the school officials? They are supposed to protect ALL students.

[Nululu]

11. So sad.

[dalton99a]

12. Davis School District, 2nd largest in Utah, teaches Reading, Writing and Racism

https://www.cnn.com/2021/10/22/us/utah-school-district-ignored-racial-harassment-doj/index.html

A Utah school district ignored hundreds of racial harassment complaints against Black and Asian American students, DOJ says
By Nicole Chavez, CNN
Updated 10:22 AM ET, Sat October 23, 2021

(CNN) Black and Asian American students were harassed at a school district in Utah for years and officials deliberately ignored complaints from parents and students, a federal civil rights investigation found.

The Justice Department detailed the disturbing pattern at the Davis School District in Farmington, Utah in a report and settlement agreement released this week. The agency had been investigating the school district since July 2019.

Black students were called the n-word, told "you are my slave" by other students and told their skin was dirty or "looked like feces" numerous times. Meanwhile, Asian American students were called slurs and told to "go back to China," the report states.

The school district had knowledge of the hostile environment and documents showed records of at least 212 incidents in which Black students were called the n-word in 27 schools between 2015-2020, according to the Justice Department.

But district officials frequently ignored the complaints, dismissed them, and at times "told Black and Asian-American students not to be so sensitive or made excuses for harassing students by explaining that they were 'not trying to be racist,''" the DOJ report states.

https://www.justice.gov/opa/press-release/file/1443856/download

[ironman99]

14. Sad commentary

Good night sweet angel, may armies of princes sing thee to thy rest!

[PoindexterOglethorpe]

15. This is probably why I saw a table at my local grocery store

with signs about suicide prevention and stopping school bullying.

[shenmue]

16. Rest in peace, sweetie

You deserved none of this.

[whathehell]

17. Heartbreaking and horribly tragic

Poor little girl..Rest in peace, sweetheart.

[llashram]

18. bullying + racism

wow! A lot for a 10yr old to handle. And I damn sure know that entitled people who should have looked out didn't. If it's not white, caring goes down the drain, even with children. Time and time again. I'm sick about this.

[EarnestPutz]

19. Ten years old! Instead of screaming at school boards over masks and vaccinations.....

......the good folks of Utah should go and burn that school board to the ground and tar and feather the administrators.

[soldierant]

28. The good folks of Utah.

Yesy, there are some, probably many. But it might also take every one of them to outnumber the school borad, staff, teachers, and racist students who bullied and continue to bully.

[EarnestPutz]

29. Silly me, I forgot to put "good folks" in parentheses. You're right, if there are any, they'd....

....certainly be a small minority.

[yardwork]

20. What a tragedy and a disgrace. How do those adults live with themselves?

[DoBotherMe]

21. FUCK! FUCK! FUCK! FUCK!

A child bullied to her death. I hate racists!

[Rhiannon12866]

22. Twitter replies:

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[Marthe48]

23. R.I.P.

n/t

[Joinfortmill]

24. WTF are these schools doing??

They seem to have a habit of ignoring bullying, thus allowing their students to be abused to the point that they can no longer tolerate the abuse. As a human being, I don't get it. These people are supposed to be educators.

[dalton99a]

27. "The harassment was pervasive and happened often in front of adults"

Schlichter enrolled her daughter in an elementary school in a diverse Salt Lake City neighborhood after she was told by a 6-year-old classmate at her local school in Davis County that “her skin is stupid.”

When Schlichter raised her concerns with school administrators “the principal told me ‘That’s like saying ‘Your clothes aren’t fashionable,’” she said.

Black students told investigators that they were routinely called the N-word or other racial epithets by non-Black students, and they were told that their skin was dirty or looked like feces, according to a news release.

“Many Black students said the harassment was so pervasive and happened so often in front of adults that they concluded school employees condoned the behavior and believed reporting it further would be futile,” the DOJ said.

https://www.deseret.com/utah/2021/10/25/22741108/doj-probe-racial-harassment-discrimination-school-district-civil-rights-blm-black-rountable-davis

[Judi Lynn]

30. Unbearable.