In 2019, 12-year-old Amari Allen attended the Immanuel Christian School outside the District of Columbia in Springfield, Virginia. She had been a student at the $12,000-a-year private evangelical institution since kindergarten. Vice President Mike Pence's wife Karen worked two days a week at the school as an art teacher. She had been with the school for twelve years.
On Thursday, September 26, 2019, while the 12-year-old's grandmother, Cynthia Allen, was doing the girl's hair, she noticed that a portion of her granddaughter's dreadlocks had been cut. When asked about that, Amari Allen broke down in tears, and with some prompting, told her grandmother a horrific story.
Three days earlier, during recess at the Immanuel Christian School, three white boys who had ben bullying her since the beginning of the school year, approached her after she slid down sliding board. They laughed at her, said her hair was nappy, and called her ugly. The bullies, according to the story, told Amari that she shouldn't have been born, and that she was an "attention-seeker."
The schoolyard harassment didn't stop with insults. One of the bullies covered Amari's mouth with his hand as another boy held her hands behind her back. The third white kid took out a pair of scissors and cut out a patch of her dreadlocks. The school bell rang and the mean boys ran off laughing.
Amari Allen said she didn't report the incident to the school out of fear of bully retaliation.
Cynthia Allen, understandably crushed and heartbroken over what had happened to her granddaughter, called the school and demanded that the three bullies be immediately dismissed from Immanuel Christian. Head of School Stephen Danish called the Fairfax County Police who promised a full investigation into the alleged hate crime.
A local CBS television affiliate came out first with Amari Allen's hate crime story. A statement released by the school read: "We take seriously the emotional and physical well-being of all our students, and have a zero-tolerance policy for any kind of bullying or abuse. We are deeply disturbed by the allegations being made, and are in communication with the family of the alleged victim to gather information and provide whatever support we can."
After the local television station aired Amari Allen's hate crime account, the story was picked up by the national media.
Although reporters had been hoodwinked over the past few years by numerous hate crime hoaxers, the story was published as gospel without a hint of skepticism. Amari Allen's ordeal was presented as further evidence of America's rampant and growing racism.
On Monday, September 30, 2019, following the Fairfax County Police investigation, CBS News reported that Amari Allen had made up the hate crime story.
Stephen Danish, the head of Immanuel Christian, announced that Amari Allen admitted her accusations against the three white boys were not true. "While we are relieved to hear the truth and bring the events of the past few days to a close, we also feel tremendous pain for the victims and the hurt on both sides of this conflict. We recognize that we now enter what will be a long season of healing."
A spokesperson for the Allen family issued the following statement: "To the administrators and families of Immanuel Christian School, we are sorry for the damage this incident has done to trust within the school family and the undue scorn it has brought to the school. We understand there will be consequences, and we're prepared to take responsibility for them."
On Thursday, September 26, 2019, while the 12-year-old's grandmother, Cynthia Allen, was doing the girl's hair, she noticed that a portion of her granddaughter's dreadlocks had been cut. When asked about that, Amari Allen broke down in tears, and with some prompting, told her grandmother a horrific story.
Three days earlier, during recess at the Immanuel Christian School, three white boys who had ben bullying her since the beginning of the school year, approached her after she slid down sliding board. They laughed at her, said her hair was nappy, and called her ugly. The bullies, according to the story, told Amari that she shouldn't have been born, and that she was an "attention-seeker."
The schoolyard harassment didn't stop with insults. One of the bullies covered Amari's mouth with his hand as another boy held her hands behind her back. The third white kid took out a pair of scissors and cut out a patch of her dreadlocks. The school bell rang and the mean boys ran off laughing.
Amari Allen said she didn't report the incident to the school out of fear of bully retaliation.
Cynthia Allen, understandably crushed and heartbroken over what had happened to her granddaughter, called the school and demanded that the three bullies be immediately dismissed from Immanuel Christian. Head of School Stephen Danish called the Fairfax County Police who promised a full investigation into the alleged hate crime.
A local CBS television affiliate came out first with Amari Allen's hate crime story. A statement released by the school read: "We take seriously the emotional and physical well-being of all our students, and have a zero-tolerance policy for any kind of bullying or abuse. We are deeply disturbed by the allegations being made, and are in communication with the family of the alleged victim to gather information and provide whatever support we can."
After the local television station aired Amari Allen's hate crime account, the story was picked up by the national media.
Although reporters had been hoodwinked over the past few years by numerous hate crime hoaxers, the story was published as gospel without a hint of skepticism. Amari Allen's ordeal was presented as further evidence of America's rampant and growing racism.
On Monday, September 30, 2019, following the Fairfax County Police investigation, CBS News reported that Amari Allen had made up the hate crime story.
Stephen Danish, the head of Immanuel Christian, announced that Amari Allen admitted her accusations against the three white boys were not true. "While we are relieved to hear the truth and bring the events of the past few days to a close, we also feel tremendous pain for the victims and the hurt on both sides of this conflict. We recognize that we now enter what will be a long season of healing."
A spokesperson for the Allen family issued the following statement: "To the administrators and families of Immanuel Christian School, we are sorry for the damage this incident has done to trust within the school family and the undue scorn it has brought to the school. We understand there will be consequences, and we're prepared to take responsibility for them."
So what happened to cause the missing dreadlock?
ReplyDeleteWhich statement by Amari Allen was the truth? The first or the second?
ReplyDelete