On March 8th, a video went viral of a black girl violently smashing the head of a white girl into the pavement at Hazelwood East High School in St. Louis County, Missouri.
[Warning: Graphic]
The video set off a firestorm on social media around the topics of skin color and crime. Since the BLM riots of 2020, a number of social accounts have dedicated themselves to posting videos of crimes, particularly in cases where the media refuses to show the name and face of the accused perpetrator.
Reports on Hazelwood's policies showed that the school is a firm ally of woke Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) policies, including "restorative justice" where students who belong to oppressed (minority) groups are given less harsh punishments and greater latitude than students from majority groups.
On Friday, the family of Kaylee Gain, the white student, shared that the 16-year-old is out of her coma and has been recovering for a week outside of the intensive care unit, but that she is facing significant cognitive issues.
Kaylee is still showing signs of significant cognitive impairment during the limited conversations that she is able to have, and she tends to reiterate the same short sentences over and over."
The teen has a long road ahead of her following the brain bleeding and skull fracture she sustained.
"Kaylee also recently began speech therapy, and has gone on a few short walks with the assistance of hospital staff as she is still unable to ambulate on her own," attorney Bryan Kaemmerer, a spokesperson for Gains, said in a statement.
"However, Kaylee does not have any recollection of the altercation that led to her hospitalization."
(A GoFundMe can be found here.)
The attacker, now identified as 15-year-old Maurnice DeClue, was charged and arrested for assault. Police had kept her identity hidden since she is a minor, but the teen's family went public to defend DeClue.
From local NBC affiliate KSDK:
DeClue's mom and dad, 66-year-old Consuella and 67-year-old Ronald DeClue, have been making visits to see her while she's being held in juvenile custody.
In a Friday phone call, they tell 5 On Your Side their daughter was "dismayed to hear" Gain was in a coma for so long, and relieved to hear about her recent improvements because, "she wants to apologize."
"I just feel for my daughter," DeClue's mother said. "She's not a troublemaker, she's not a bully."
"Maurnice was not the aggressor," she said. "This had manifested over a three-month period. My daughter was focused on her education, and I don't know... maybe they thought she was a nerd."
DeClue's mother alleged that her daughter had been a target of bullying as well.
According to DeClue, police investigators have compiled copies of Instagram messages that included menacing threats to Maurnice.
"My daughter said she blacked out during the fight. I didn't know she was being bullied," Consuella DeClue said. "I would have pulled her out of school."
The family said they went public to defend their daughter's character, "highlighting her honor roll status, proficiency in four languages, and that she played volleyball and violin in school orchestra."
Meanwhile, the Missouri attorney general is looking to see if the investigation turns up racial animus in the case, which could determine if Maurnice is charged with a hate crime.
Kaylee's family is also pushing to have Maurnice tried as an adult.
Maurnice's mother, however, said the fight had nothing to do with skin color.
This is not about racism. This is about two girls having a fight.
As an extra data point, a social post, allegedly from one of Kaylee's (black?) friends (the school is 98% black), features racist language toward the school's white principal and shows the type of attitudes/discourse at play.
[Warning: Language]
This video demonstrates that the dynamics of bullying, high school drama, educational policies, relationships, and discrimination isn't as straightforward or easy to discern as any of us think.
Here's praying the investigation is conducted honestly and Kaylee recovers well.
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