{"id":792,"date":"2023-04-17T18:42:00","date_gmt":"2023-04-17T23:42:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/cooper-for-all.local\/?p=792"},"modified":"2023-04-18T10:44:37","modified_gmt":"2023-04-18T15:44:37","slug":"horrific-lubbock-parents-students-testify-in-austin-identity-based-bullying-bill","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/cooper-for-all.local\/news\/horrific-lubbock-parents-students-testify-in-austin-identity-based-bullying-bill\/","title":{"rendered":"\u2018Horrific\u2019: Lubbock parents, students testify in Austin, identity-based bullying bill"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

By: Mikayla Holmes<\/a>, Caitlyn Rooney<\/a> from everythinglubbock.com<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Parents and students from Lubbock testified in Austin Monday with stories of racism in several local schools. They spoke at the Texas State Capitol in support of House Bill 4625.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

HB 4625 proposed the implementation of a strategy that would prevent bullying on the basis of \u201cthe victim\u2019s actual or perceived race, ethnicity, color, national origin, sex, gender, religion, disability status\u2026\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It also proposed training and staff development for teachers and administrators on the proposed strategy. The individuals who testified were Phyliss Gant, Mary Pegues, Tracy Kemp, Shardae McGaha and Trinity Hawkins.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Kemp said she moved to Lubbock from Michigan two years ago. She described her experience in Texas as \u201chorrific.\u201d Kemp said her son was the victim of identity-based bullying while he was a student at Laura Bush Middle School. She testified that her son was called the n-word within only a few months of starting school.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI had to make a call to the FBI hotline, because that\u2019s how bad it had gotten in our school district,\u201d Kemp testified. Despite extensive local news coverage, Kemp said the school district did not publicly recognize that racial bullying occurred until it made national headlines.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Kemp and McGaha were among several other parents who took action against the Lubbock-Cooper Independent School District for the discrimination and harassment they said their children experienced. In April 2022, Kemp and McGaha\u2019s children were both featured on an Instagram page called \u201cLBMS_m0nkeys\u201d which stood for \u201cLaura Bush Middle School Monkeys.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI am not a monkey. I have a name,\u201d Trinity Hawkins, a student at the Slaton Independent School District, testified. Hawkins said she was expected to quietly deal with the racism and identity-based bullying and got in trouble when she stood up for herself. Hawkins testified that is not fair for younger kids to deal with racism in schools.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIt mentally drains you,\u201d Hawkins said. \u201cIt hinders you from trying to learn.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Several parents in Lubbock made waves in 2022 about what they called \u201cracial discrimination.\u201d Parents claimed their children were called racial slurs and whipping sounds were played on smart phones as they walked in the halls.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe have a pandemic in Lubbock, Texas, of racism. That has been documented for almost two years. With no resolution,\u201d said Phyllis Gant, Lubbock NAACP legal redress chair.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

If passed, the law would take effect at the beginning of the 2023-24 school year.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By: Mikayla Holmes, Caitlyn Rooney from everythinglubbock.com Parents and students from Lubbock testified in Austin Monday with stories of racism in several local schools. They spoke at the Texas State Capitol in support of House Bill 4625. HB 4625 proposed the implementation of a strategy that would prevent bullying on the basis of \u201cthe victim\u2019s […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":793,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"off","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[20,7],"yoast_head":"\n\u2018Horrific\u2019: Lubbock parents, students testify in Austin, identity-based bullying bill - Cooper For All<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/cooper-for-all.local\/news\/horrific-lubbock-parents-students-testify-in-austin-identity-based-bullying-bill\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"\u2018Horrific\u2019: Lubbock parents, students testify in Austin, identity-based bullying bill - Cooper For All\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"By: Mikayla Holmes, Caitlyn Rooney from everythinglubbock.com Parents and students from Lubbock testified in Austin Monday with stories of racism in several local schools. 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