DEMOPOLIS, Ala. – An Alabama mother says her 9-year-old daughter took her own life last week after facing racial bullying at her elementary school.
McKenzie Adams was found by her grandmother on December 3 at their home in Linden after she hanged herself, reports WIAT.
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McKenzie Adams was a black fourth-grade student at U.S. Jones Elementary School in Demopolis, according to the report. Her mother, Jasmine Adams, said the 9 year old faced bullying a number of times over her race.
"She told me that this one particular child was writing her nasty notes in class," Jasmine Adams told WIAT. "It was just things you wouldn't think a 9-year-old should know. And for my baby to tell me some of the things they had said to her, I was just like, 'Where are they learning this from?'"
Jasmine Adams said her daughter reported the bullying to school officials a number of times. She feels the school system let her daughter and her family down.
The girl's aunt, Eddwina Harris, told Tuscaloosa News that part of the bullying was over her friendship with a white boy that she rode to school with.
“She was being bullied the entire school year, with words such as ‘kill yourself,’ ‘you think you’re white because you ride with that white boy,’ ‘you ugly,’ ‘black b***h,’ ‘just die’,” Harris said.
Funeral arrangements for my neice McKenzie Adams, will be Saturday December 15 @ 11am @US Jones Elementary School gym &...
Posted by Eddwina Harris on Thursday, December 6, 2018
Harris created a GoFundMe page for The McKenzie Foundation on Tuesday. The stated goal is to "stop the bullying nationwide."
Demopolis City Schools released a statement following the girl's death:
Certainly our hearts goes out to the family and friends of Mckenzie and her fellow students as well as her teachers. Demopolis school system has provided grief councilors and crisis councilors at the school since this and ministers and youth ministers have been at the campus since the date of this incident. And we certainly want to extend those services to any students and teachers on our campus as they go through this healing process.
Demopolis City Schools Attorney Alex Brasswell denied that any bullying took place. He released a statement Tuesday following an investigation:
We have concluded our internal investigation to the allegations of bullying which led to this senseless death. There have been no findings of any reports of bullying by either the student or family. The findings of this internal investigation are consistent with the results of the investigation of the Linden (Alabama) Police Department at this point in time. The Linden Police Department investigation is still pending. All further results will be disseminated as they become available. The Demopolis City School System will continue to have grief counselors, crisis counselors and mental health professionals available to all of our students and teachers.