Six eighth-graders at Southwick Regional School in Massachusetts are facing serious fallout after purportedly conducting a 'mock slave auction' targeting their classmates in racist group chat on social media platform Snapchat. Hampden District Attorney Anthony Gulluni announced the pending charges against the underage kids, which stems from a February 8 incident, according to reports by NBC Boston and WCVB.
The DA's office is slapping the youths with multiple charges, including threat to commit a crime. Additionally, two of these juveniles will be charged with interference with civil rights and one of them is also slapped with a witness interference charge. These charges follow an investigation into a Snapchat conversation where several students allegedly made racist comments, threats, and held an imaginary auction where they 'bidded' on their peers. Owing to the offenders' juvenile status, specifics about the suspects cannot be disseminated.
Reports from NBC Boston detail that the hate-fueled chat included "heinous language, threats and a mock slave auction" targeting two known students at the school. The abhorrent online activity was reported to the school on February 9, directly following the night it occurred. School authorities responded by suspending the offending students three days later.
According to the statement provided by Springfield's own Allyson Lopez in a WCVB interview, it was her 13-year-old daughter who was the subject of the fictitious slave auction by her peers. This incident is not an isolated one for Lopez’s daughter, who had previously been subjected to racial bullying at school. She expressed her dismay, saying, "I feel betrayed in a sense. I put her into the school system hoping that they take care of her and protect her."
In response to this incident, Gulluni's office plans to offer lessons on hate and bullying to the Southwick school community. While details cannot be fully disclosed due to juvenile privacy laws, this case highlights a disturbing trend of racist incidents in schools and raises concerns about how these environments are dealing with such issues.
