Ten-year-old Black girl arrested at school in Hawaii after drawing picture of pupil who was bullying her
Police arrested a 10-year-old Black girl at her school in Hawaii after she drew a picture of a student who was bullying her.
Honolulu police visited the school after a parent complained about the “offensive sketch” and the youngster was shockingly handcuffed, placed in a patrol car and taken to the station.
The American Civil Liberties Union has now written to the Honolulu Police Department, the state’s Department of Education and attorney general demanding policy changes.
The ACLU also wants the arrest record expunged and for the girl to be paid $500,000 for “harm and suffering” in the January 2020 incident.
The organisation says that incident took place after a parent called Honowai Elementary School in Honolulu to complain about the drawing made by the girl and demanded the staff call police.
The girl, who is only identified as “NB” was then “handcuffed with excessive force and taken to the police station,” says the ACLU.
Watch: A drawing that upset a parent led to a Black girl arrested at Hawaii school
The girl’s mother, Tamara Taylor, says she was called to the school but not allowed to see her daughter or told that she had been taken away by police.
“I was stripped of my rights as a parent and my daughter was stripped of her right to protection and representation as a minor,” she said in a statement.
“There was no understanding of diversity, African-American culture and the history of police involvement with African-American youth.
“My daughter and I are traumatised from these events and I’m disheartened to know that this day will live with my daughter forever,”
In the ACLU’s letter they state that the girl had “allegedly participated in drawing an offensive sketch of a student in response to that student bullying her.”
The girl later told her mother that while she had drawn the picture, other pupils had been involved in coloring and writing on it.
And she said that “she did not want the drawing delivered but one of the other students snatched it from her hands and delivered it anyways,” the letter stated.
The ACLU has given the school and the police until 8 November to respond.
Watch: ‘Black girls must die exhausted’
