A school teacher has been found out to have brutally led an assault on a young schoolboy just because he is a Muslim kid.
File photo used only for illustrative purpose: a Muslim boy
An elementary school teacher from North Carolina, USA, identified as Alma Simpson, has been accused of a grievous crime.
A leading civil rights group claims the man repeatedly assaulted a
5-year-old Muslim student, while encouraging the boy's classmates to
bully him.
According to NY Daily News, Alma Simpson, a kindergarten teacher at
David Cox Road Elementary School in Charlotte, started harassing the
young student at the beginning of the school year and on multiple
occasions called him a "bad Muslim boy" before his classmates, according to a letter from the Council on American-Islamic Relations.
The student's name is being withheld to protect his identity.
"During the first two months of the school year, (the student)
was subjected to relentless bullying and harassment not only by his
classmates, but by Ms. Simpson," CAIR staff attorney Maha
Sayed wrote in the letter obtained by The News and sent to the
Charlotte-Mecklenburg board of education on Wednesday.
The worst incident, Sayed claims in the letter, occurred on Nov. 16
when Simpson grabbed the boy by the neck and started choking him.
"(Another teacher) then separated the two and began consoling (the boy) who was crying and extremely shaken," Sayed stated.
Simpson allegedly also made the Muslim student carry a heavy
backpack throughout entire school days, as his schoolmates would laugh
and mock him. The bag would be loaded with heavy textbooks and
headphones, which caused the boy to develop serious back pains,
according to the letter.
The disturbing allegations come as the FBI reports that hate crimes
against Muslim-Americans spiked by 67% last year. Furthermore, since
Donald Trump was elected, the country has seen a staggering rise in
anti-Muslim and anti-immigrant attacks.
Sayed claimed that the boy's mother contacted school officials
earlier this year and requested that her son be transferred to a
different class. But on Oct. 12, the boy was reportedly moved back to
Simpson's class "without cause or explanation."
"Ms. Simpson clearly exhibited a disturbing pattern of
discriminatory and hostile conduct towards both (the boy) and his
mother," Sayed said. "The school's failure to sufficiently
investigate and monitor Ms. Simpson's ongoing behavior, of which they
were aware, ultimately resulted in her alleged assault and battery of
the kindergarten student."
The boy's mother filed a report with the Charlotte-Mecklenburg
Police Department after he came home from school and told her of the
choking incident, Sayed said, adding that her organization demands that
the school board launches an "immediate and thorough investigation" into Simpson's alleged misconduct.
Sayed also said the boy's family requests that he be transferred to "a safe kindergarten classroom free from discrimination."
A spokeswoman with the school board confirmed Wednesday that
officials are aware of the situation and said that they are
investigating.
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