Photo via @willum4606/TikTok
August 25, 2021, 2:13 pm
A Black high school student posted a TikTok video begging viewers to spread the word after he says he was suspended and had the cops called on him by school staff after he stood up for a Black transgender student who was being actively bullied by other teens who were not facing any consequences. According to user @willum4606, he was suspended first for standing up to the bullies, and when he asked why she should be punished for that while nothing happens to the students who were harassing and threatening the trans teen, the suspending teacher called the cops.
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As he records the video, crying, the student repeatedly looks back over his shoulder at the police outside the room where he said he was locked in.
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“I’m being suspended right now at Fulton High School in Knox County in Knoxville, Tennessee because I stuck up for a trans woman, I stuck up for a trans woman and she has the freaking police outside … all because I’m asking her why am I getting suspended?” said the student.
“She also put the trans woman that was being deadnamed and bullied in the hallways in ROC, which is an alternative for in-school suspension. Are you serious right now?”
The administrator responsible for this, identified as the assistant principal Beth Haun, accused the suspended student of being “combative” and “elevated,” but a video posted just before this shows him calmly and evenly explaining his situation to the camera with Haun in the background describing him this way. This reflects a common racist trope in which Black individuals are often accused of being more aggressive than they are.
He was also accused of using “profanity,” but he points out that so-called “bad words” should not be viewed as nearly as serious a problem as transphobic bullying, pointing out the shockingly short average lifespan among Black trans women that can only be explained by cultural transphobia. That exact kind of transphobia is frequently enabled by authority figures, whether they be school staff, police, or politicians, who ignore violence against trans people and punish those who fight against it.
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“And the bullies are not facing any repercussions, but we are,” says the TikTok user. “We are. We’re facing repercussions right now all because I stood up for what I believe in, and you know what I’m not ashamed.”
“So y’all just wanna focus on what people said instead of dealing with the problem at hand when people don’t feel safe in school and they literally threaten her life?”
The student has not posted a TikTok video since the one in which he was locked in a room crying five days ago and there does not appear to be any new information on this incident. Both the school’s Facebook page and Twitter account no longer exist, though it’s unclear if this is related to the video.
As it spreads, many commenters have expressed outrage toward Fulton High School and its administrators as well as concern for the well-being of the student in the video and the trans teen he stood up for. The school has been contacted by the Daily Dot but has not responded to requests for comment.
*First Published: August 25, 2021, 2:13 pm
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