HANOVER COUNTY, Va. — Jamal Baylor-Ali excels at sports, school and socializing.
“He loves going to school, loves interacting with people,” said his mother, Nyseria Baylor-Ali.
A fourth grader at Cold Harbor Elementary School in Hanover, his parents, Nyseria and Chris Holloman, said they could not ask for a better son.
"Jamal, everybody loves Jamal. He is just that type of kid,” said Chris Holloman, his father.
However, in October, Jamal started getting off the bus and saying he did not want to return to school.
"After days of saying he wanted to be home-schooled, that’s when he told me, 'They have been calling me an African-American monkey,'” Nyseria said.
She called the school with her concerns.
“When they addressed the situation, I think the kid said he saw it on YouTube or something like that,” Nyseria said.
She hoped that was the end of it, but she received another call from the school in November.
She was told another child told Jamal, “Kamala Harris is a bad n—, and he is a good n—.”
“I couldn’t believe it. We are talking about fourth graders,” Holloman said. “For someone to come and out of nowhere and say that, it’s shocking.”
Nyseria said she met with the principal and another administrator with Hanover County Public Schools who suggested Jamal move to another classroom.
“Because they thought it would be better for him, and he was the only African-American kid in his classroom,” Nyseria said.
Nyseria and Chris hoped the racial bullying would end, but the couple said it only continued.
"In the cafeteria, he was called an African-American monkey again, I think one child was like, 'I wish this African-American monkey hurry up.' He’s been called a gorilla,” Nyseria said.
They believe the school system did not do enough to stop the racial bullying.
“Incidents like that should be nipped in the bud right then and there. This won’t be tolerated at all,” Holloman said.
CBS 6 reached out to Hanover County Schools on March 4 to ask about Jamal and how they handled his situation, but the division said it is prohibited by law from sharing details concerning matters about specific students.
However, they did share that the day after we reached out to them, a message from the principal was sent to all fourth-grade families at Cold Harbor.
In the message, Allison Hunt Mullens confirmed that hateful and racist terms have been used by some students, writing, “The hurtful and offensive language is reprehensible, and we need your help to make it stop."
She added that the school takes these matters with the utmost seriousness, and the issue has been addressed directly with students to help them understand the hurtful nature of the words, and how they are not appropriate in any situation.
She also said the school will continue to hold students accountable to the Code of Student Conduct.
But, Nyseria and Holloman said that although they do not know what consequences the kids that racially bullied their son received because the school has not told them, they believe there needs to be stiffer penalties.
“There needs to be harsher consequences so that way they know, hey, this has consequences, let me not say that, and then their friends know this person got consequences, that’s not OK to do because I don’t want those consequences,” Nyseria said.
At a November 12 School Board meeting, Board Chair Robert May and Interim Superintendent Lisa Pennycuff disputed allegations that the school division does not take claims of racism seriously after a racist slur was discovered on an opposing team’s bus at a Hanover High School JV football game.
“We take these matters and all allegations of misconduct, including that which relates to racism, very seriously,” Pennycuff said. “Please be assured that we diligently investigate allegations that are reported to us.”
In her remarks to the School Board on November 12, the Interim Superintendent also stated that the work to encourage respect and valuing differences begins at home with parents and guardians.
She stated, “We all share a collective responsibility to ensure that our students are educated on these important topics, particularly as it relates to demonstrating tolerance and mutual respect toward one another."
CBS 6 is committed to sharing community voices on this important topic. Email your thoughts to the CBS 6 Newsroom.
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