Black Student in Charlotte Expelled After His Mother Complained About His Class Studying FENCES

A Black ninth grade student at a private school in Charlotte, N.C. was expelled after his mother complained that his class was going to be studying August Wilson's "Fences."

According to The New York Times, Faith Fox, the student's mother, expressed concerns about her son's "mostly white" class reading the dialogue out loud, which heavily features racial slurs.

Fox believed that the themes were too mature for the class and bring about negative stereotypes about Black families. In response, she sent emails to the school, and they agreed on an alternate lesson for 14-year-old Jamel. Fox took her complaints to a parents' Facebook group, and sent another email that the school described as "a personal attack on a faculty member."

Following the email, the school notified Fox that Jamel would no longer be attending the school, citing a "termination of enrollment" due to the parent, not the student.

"I was completely crushed," Jamel said. "There was no, 'Please don't kick me out, I won't say this, I won't say that, my mom won't say this, my mom won't say that.'" He is making plans to attend public school in January.

Leigh Dyer, a spokeswoman for the school said that officials were "saddened" that Jamel had to leave.

"As a school community, we value a diversity of thought and teach students to engage in civil discourse around topics that they might not necessarily agree on," Ms. Dyer said. "We have the same expectation for the adults in our community."

Jamel's termination letter cited the reason as "bullying, harassment and racially discriminatory actions" and "slanderous accusations towards the school itself" by Ms. Fox, which she denied.

"Instead of addressing the issue they're trying to make me seem like an angry, ranting Black woman," she said.

Following this incident, Fox said that her son told her he finally understood "why Black Lives Matter is so important and is not just about George Floyd and all of these people dying in the streets, but it also has to do with how we're treated everywhere else."

Read the original story on The New York Times.

Need more Charlotte Theatre News in your life?
Sign up for all the news on the Summer season, discounts & more...