Parents demand accountability after video shows student yelling slurs at 5-year-old

By Scott Gelman | sgelman@wtop.com

Click here for updates on this story

    LOUDOUN COUNTY, Virginia (WTOP) — A Loudoun County, Virginia, mother is demanding the public school system take additional steps to protect students, about a month after she said a middle schooler yelled racial slurs toward her 5-year-old.

At a school board meeting Tuesday, the woman told board members her 5-year-old child was “racially harassed and bullied by a middle schooler.” WTOP is not disclosing their names.

“I’m here to ask what are we going to do to make sure this never happens again? Not to (my child), not to any child in LCPS,” she said. “Because if there are no consequences, if there’s no clear policy to protect the children from racial harm, then how can we trust the school district to keep our kids safe?”

The website AsAm News said the child’s parents asked the outlet to post the nearly two-minute clip.

In the video, a voice can be heard mimicking the sound of a language toward the 5-year-old child.

Then, the child is heard saying, “No, don’t hurt me!” as the middle schooler walks closer.

Later in the video, the older boy repeats the same sounds, then says, “Go eat your dumplings,” and asking the younger child whether the child is going to eat dumplings for dinner.

A spokesman for the Loudoun County’s Sheriff’s Office said the incident captured on video happened April 5 in the Broadlands community. The agency is investigating the incident, but it isn’t releasing video or other details because juveniles are involved.

It occurred in front of a home and not on school property, the sheriff’s office said, and the clip circulating online is “not necessarily the entirety of what the LCSO is reviewing,” the spokesman said.

Superintendent Aaron Spence, meanwhile, said even though the incident didn’t happen at a school, it has “deeply impacted our community and raised important questions about who we are and what we stand for.”

In a letter to the community, Spence said “hate speech and racial slurs have no place in our schools or in our community.”

Spence said the school has been communicating with the students and parents involved. The letter detailed school district policies regarding discrimination. His letter didn’t detail possible disciplinary decisions for the student in the video.

“Since this incident became public, we have been made aware of threats directed at the student who made the offensive comments and threats directed at the school, including its staff,” Spence wrote. “Retaliatory bullying, intimidation, or threats, whether in response to this or any other situation, are unacceptable and will not be tolerated.”

But the 5-year-old’s mother and numerous other parents who spoke at Tuesday’s meeting are urging the school division to do more.

“This isn’t just about holding one person accountable,” the child’s mother said. “It’s about whether LCPS is willing to protect every child, especially students of color, from hate, from fear, from silence.”

“We cannot tolerate this behavior,” said Yijia Pu, another parent who spoke during the meeting. “Racist harassment, even by a minor, must be taken seriously. Discipline, education and accountability must go hand in hand. We need stronger responses to hate and real support for families impacted by it.”

Please note: This content carries a strict local market embargo. If you share the same market as the contributor of this article, you may not use it on any platform.