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Za'Khari Waddy is only 13 years old but has already experienced a lifetime's worth of racism from many white students at his school.
Za'Khari Waddy turns 14 this December.

Even though he is only in the 8th grade at Tabb Middle School in Yorktown, Virginia, he has already experienced a lifetime's worth of racism from white students at his school.

In the wake of a nationwide conversation about racism on college campuses sparked by the University of Missouri, younger African American students, in elementary and middle school, often lack the social networks to bring viral attention to the horrendous discrimination they face.

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© Nick Schnelle/Associated PressSupporters of Concerned Student 1950 celebrate following University of Missouri System President Tim Wolfe's resignation Monday.
Za'Khari is a tremendous young man — a scholar-athlete, he stays on the honor roll and is a leader on his football team. For years, now, though, he says he has faced constant racism in school.

"Ever since we've moved to this area my son has been faced with racism," Za'Khari's mother Zettrona Powell said in a letter to the school. "He's been asked if he was going to rape or rob a young lady, he's been pushed into lockers and called a n----r on numerous occasions."

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Za'Khari Waddy's mother, Zettrona Powell, said she has repeatedly contacted the school to ask that the racism against her son be dealt with.
According to Ms. Powell, both she and Za'Khari have consistently reported this racism — but nothing substantive has been done to stop it.

Finally, on Oct. 27, riding on a school bus to Tabb after an away game, Za'Khari says a white student said horrifically racist things to him. For he and his mother, this was a breaking point.

Za'Khari penned this devastating open letter that he sent to his school and asked us to publish.

To Whom It May Concern:

Yesterday on the football bus coming from our football game a kid ... started saying racist things to me. He then started saying he does not like blacks and he told me 200 years ago my ancestors hung from a tree and after he said that I should I hang from a tree. That made me super mad, so in the locker room I told him not to call me n----r or that I should be hung on a tree. The coaches took me away from the kid because I was really mad and they think I was going to fight him but I want someone to do something about it because I'm tired of boys messing with me because of my skin. I'm at my boiling point with this. Please do something about this because when I bring it to the office/principle you do nothing about it and I'm tired of the racism.

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© Za’Khari WaddyZa’Khari Waddy penned this chilling letter to his school on Oct. 27 after a classmate said horrifically racist things to him while they rode a school bus back from an away football game.
On multiple occasions in the two weeks since this incident, Za'Khari's mother says she met with the principal and has written and called both the school and the school board, only to be told they'll look into it. In the meantime, day in and day out, Za'Khari is forced to return to school to share the same space with classmates that have repeatedly harassed him.

"This has crushed my son's spirit," said his mother. "When my son got off the bus he threw his backpack, the coaches came in and told him 'don't let it get to him.' How can he not allow this to bother him mentally? This has mentally damaged my son."

In addition to asking for the students to receive a serious punishment, Za'Khari's mother has asked the school to facilitate a meeting between her and families of the multiple boys who have harassed her son, but nothing has been done. In emails she forwarded me from the administration, they simply stated "Please know that the matter is being investigated."

I called the school board myself to discuss the matter, but they declined to comment, citing the student's privacy.

While many schools claim to have a renewed focus on bullying, they are forgetting that racism is one of the original and most damaging forms of bullying.

No child should ever face what Za'Khari has faced. It's time that Tabb officials and faculty members own the burden for their apparent severe negligence on this matter.