A group of white children was at the center of a controversy after they filmed themselves and their black classmate at a sleepover. Consequently, there was a push for the kids to face felony hate crime charges. Was it warranted?
Racial tensions flared after a video circulated on social media showing the abuse of a middle school boy at a suburban home in Dallas, Texas. The clip shows 13-year-old SeMarion Humphrey being handed a cup that allegedly contained the urine of one of his peers as he unwittingly drinks the substance.
The boy told his mother that he was awakened by a group of white boys at the birthday slumber party and told that he had stopped breathing in his sleep. He says they then handed him the cup of urine and told him with urgency to drink it. The video captures him taking a sip of the liquid before spitting it back into the cup as his peers giggle. His mother says he was also shot with BB guns and called racial epithets during the sleepover, NBC reports.
Summer Smith broke down in tears as she recalled the events and watching the video of her son allegedly being made to drink another boy’s urine. She says that although she asked about who would be at the sleepover, she wasn’t aware his school bullies would be attending.
“They woke him up out of his sleep and said, ‘You stopped breathing! You got to drink this,’” she alleges. “How horrible must you be? This is not a prank. This is beyond bullying. You are evil. They are evil.”
Smith claims that she called the school and reported the incident since the video of her son’s abuse was being shared among students. However, she says that officials told her there was nothing they could do since the event didn’t occur on-campus. She then filed a report with the Plano Police Department, which decided to persue charges in the case.
“They threatened him not to tell,” said Smith looking at her son. “I am so proud of you. I am so proud of you. Thank you for telling me because this has got to stop. And this is going to end with him.”
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Smith says this wasn’t the first time her son has experienced bullying and harassment. She claims that the boy has suffered serious physical and psychological abuse by his classmates, which she alleges has been ignored by the school, over the last year on school grounds. Smith went on to write that her son has been called racial and homophobic slurs and that a school coach had confiscated her son’s inhaler.
“Imagine being a happy kid who loves making people smile and having a good time… Imagine your classmates and football team members turning on you and targeting you,” Smith wrote. “Imagine a group of those same football team members attacking you in the locker-room with a belt… Imagine being hit in the private area and when you tell an adult you are told ‘boys will be boys.'”
Attorney Kim Cole, who is representing the family, said she believes the event at the sleepover is “a racially motivated hate crime.” She also wrote on social media that SeMarion Humphrey was devastated after he chose to quit the football team due to the prolonged bullying.
Local activists made a list of demands, including that the boys at the sleepover are expelled from school and that race-based hate crime charges are brought against them. They also planned to go after the parents of the boys involved.
“The family and the Next Generation Action Network has requested that the Federal Bureau of Investigations be brought in to investigate this situation as a hate crime,” Dallas activist Dominique Alexander said. “We also want the parents who were entrusted with the safety of these children also held accountable in this situation.”
Of course, not everyone voiced their support for the victim’s family. In fact, many social media users directed some of the outrage back at SeMarion’s parents for not segregating him from white children.
“Why in the f— did his parents allow him to they [white] friends house who video this disgraceful act of evil?” one Twitter user asked.
“Unfortunately, many of our people are so deep into being accepted by them. They’ll sacrifice their own children. Besides don’t teach their children about racism and what to watch out for,” one person replied.
“Because unfortunately many black people are still very ignorant and refuse to believe that white supremacy is at war with us,” another wrote.
“C—n parents,” another responded with a racial slur directed at the boy’s parents.
SeMarion Humphrey has undoubtedly suffered bullying, both at the sleepover and likely over the last year at his school, and he deserves our sympathy and outrage. However, it is unclear if there is evidence of racial motivation for the abuse, and to assume that the abuse of a minority is automatically racially-motivated is a dangerous precedent.
Charging children with felony crimes, especially hate crimes, is a serious matter that shouldn’t be taken lightly. The boys must be punished if they’ve inflicted physical or psychological abuse on the victim. Of course, it is up to the court system and not the mob to determine whether the bullying qualifies as a hate crime.
