Racial Harassment Case in Michigan School Raises Concerns

The Education Department was engaged with numerous districts towards the end of the Biden administration. However, progress has stalled since the transition.

A complaint sent to the Education Department’s Office for Civil Rights reveals the troubling experience of a middle-school student in Michigan. Her mother reported extensive racial harassment that has deeply affected her daughter.

By the time Black History Month took place at Chesaning Middle School in Michigan in 2024, the singular Black girl in the fifth grade had already faced multiple instances of racial slurs. While on the bus, she reported being called a “monkey.” Other students directed the n-word at her and made derogatory remarks about her skin tone, comparing it to “burnt like a piece of chicken.”