An Alabama family attributes the suicide of their 9-year-old little girl to racist bullying.
McKenzie Adams hung herself on December 3 after suffering months of bullying, according to WIAT. Her grandmother discovered her body in their home.
Jasmine Adams, McKenzie’s mother, said another child would pass harassing notes to the fourth-grader.
"She told me that this one particular child was writing her nasty notes in class. It was just things you wouldn't think a 9-year-old should know. And my baby to tell me some of the things they had said to her I was like where are they learning this from,” Jasmine recalled.
McKenzie’s relationship with a white student also made her a target.
"Part of it could have been because she rode to school with a white family. And a lot of it was race, some of the student bullies would say to her, 'Why you riding with white people? You’re Black; you’re ugly. You should just die,” the grieving mom added.
McKenzie’s aunt, radio host Edwinna Harris, said the girl was also told she should commit suicide.
“She was being bullied the entire school year, with words such as ‘kill yourself,’ ‘you think you’re white because you ride with that white boy,’ ‘you ugly,’ ‘Black b***h,’ ‘just die,’” Harris told The Columbus Dispatch.
Jasmine transferred her daughter to another school, but the taunting continued, reports CBS News.
Jasmine believes the school district did not do enough to stop the bullying.
"I just felt that our trust was in them that they would do the right thing," Jasmine said. "And it feels like to me it wasn't it wasn't done.”
Harris remembers her niece as an outgoing little girl who loved to play with her cousins, travel and aspired to be a scientist. Jasmine said her daughter was an “angel.”
Demopolis City Schools attorney Alex Braswell expressed his condolences.
"Certainly our hearts [goes] out to the family and friends of Mckenzie and her fellow students as well as her teachers,” Braswell said in a statement. “Demopolis school system has provided grief councilors and crisis councilors at the school since this and ministers and youth ministers have been at the campus since the date of this incident. And we certainly want to extend those services to any students and teachers on our campus as they go through this healing process."
In an email sent on Tuesday, Braswell said the school concluded that there was no evidence of bullying according to Tuscaloosa News.
“We have concluded our internal investigation to the allegations of bullying which led to this senseless death. There have been no findings of any reports of bullying by either the student or family," he wrote. "The findings of this internal investigation are consistent with the results of the investigation of the Linden (Alabama) Police Department at this point in time."
McKenzie will be buried on December 15.
If you or anyone you know is experiencing suicidal thoughts, please contact The National Suicide Prevention Lifeline at 800-273-8255.
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