A video that shows two girls attacking another student at Maple Grove Middle School has parents demanding action. The attack occurred in December, but then the mother of the victim—a middle school aged girl—saw the video floating around on social media. She was stunned by the violence, and gave the video to 5 EYEWITNESS NEWS.
The mother also found out that the two girls who committed the attack were only given a 4-day suspension. Because of this, around 100 parents packed the Osseo-Maple Grove School Board meeting on Tuesday night.
“We were horrified by the video when we saw it and are thankful she was not hurt worse than bruises and a knot on her head,” the victim’s mother told KSTP. “But a four-day suspension is not adequate because there is no deterrent and my daughter did not provoke this assault.”
At the meeting, a woman stood up and said she was the mother of one of the attackers. The woman then proceeded to blame her daughter’s actions on racism: “My daughter, like many other students of color at Maple Grove Middle School, faces harassment and racial slurs every day. I do not condone what she did, but people do need to know being constantly degraded leads to anger and frustration.”
It is unclear, however, what the victim did to the two girls who attacked her. The mother of the attacker appeared to blame her daughter’s behavior on general racism, not anything specific that the victim did.
The video shows two girls repeatedly kicking and punching the victim, who doesn’t fight back and ends up in the fetal position on the floor. Even when the victim is in the fetal position, the attackers pull her hair in order to move her face up to land another punch.
“It’s a 13 year old child,” said another woman trying to excuse the behavior of the attackers.
“I was astonished by how many kids don’t feel safe at our middle school,” said another parent, appearing to call for stricter discipline of the attackers.
Minnesota schools have a history of giving less-strict discipline to students of color, based on using racial quotas for disciplinary actions. It is yet unclear if this is happening here.
Willis Krumholz
Willis L. Krumholz is a fellow at Defense Priorities. He holds a JD and MBA degree from the University of St. Thomas, and works in the financial services industry. The views expressed are those of the author only. You can follow Willis on Twitter @WillKrumholz.
