Fayetteville mom outraged at racial slurs on child's paper
FAYETTEVILLE (WTVD) -- A Fayetteville mother is outraged after her 3-year-old came home with racial slurs written on her artwork.
Emoni Bell attends Alabama Lane Head Start just off Highway 301. Her mom Markeyta Bell says she usually looks forward to seeing her child's artwork every day but Thursday afternoon she was shocked at the words scribbled above her child's name. The words "you suck, 'n-word'" were written in blue marker right next to Emoni's name.
"I was pretty much disgusted. She goes to Head Start to learn. Basically, as a parent it hurt me," Bell said.
Bell said she immediately contacted the corporate office who told her that a substitute teacher wrote those words at her night job and mistakenly gave it to Emoni to draw on.
While the substitute teacher is also African American, Emoni's mom said no teacher should use slurs when referring to any child.
"For an African American teacher to write this about another African American. It's kind of like why, why would you write that about a little child? Even if she wasn't African American, Caucasian or anything. Why would you write something so negative about a child, especially a three year old?" Bell asked.
ABC11 spoke with Head Start officials, who tell us they're actively investigating the personnel matter.
Bell says Emoni won't be returning to school until the teacher is removed from the classroom. She says the decision is costly for her to find alternative care for her daughter.
