Special Report:
By Attorney Rawsi Williams
“You’re choking him!” “I’m getting it on video!” These are the heart-wrenching piercing words and shrilling cries of middle-school children as I watched the video they recorded of a white male teacher choking a Black male middle-school student in Volusia county. Despite their pleas for this tall teacher to let this small framed Black boy go, he wouldn’t. As a teacher, he was supposed to de-escalate a physical altercation between the Black kid and a white kid. Instead, he grabbed and choked the Black kid…for a while…as the kids yelled that the Black boy was about to pass out. Never mind that the Black kid had reported to the school previously that the white kid had threatened to fight him. The school did not intervene. And when the white kid made good on his threats, the Black kid suffered.
As I took this case to represent this child and his family, I couldn’t help but think of another Black kid whom I successfully represented in Miami against the FL High School Athletic Association, Luther Johnson, V. Despite a greater than 4.0 GPA, college offers from across the nation, having never been disciplined in school, never arrested, never disciplined in sports until the discipline at issue, the FHSAA banned him from ALL sports his Senior year over a 20-second in-game lacrosse play. He was the only Black player in the entire game. And never mind that he’d reported that the white players at Marjorie Stoneman Douglas called him the N- word on the field. I had to take the FHSAA all the way to court. And we won. LJV never missed a game. He now plays lacrosse for the Seminoles.
But in this current situation, this kid is not a straight-A student. He comes from a single parent home. His mother admittedly has been in trouble with the law multiple times, leaving his grandmother to do her best to rear him. He’s gotten mixed in with the wrong crowds seeking that love and affection, trying so hard as a kid not to be the statistic he was becoming but didn’t have the skills or resources to know a different path. BUT THIS TIME HE DID THINGS THE RIGHT WAY! This time he’d tried to stay out of trouble. This time he reported the other kid to the school before the day that the white kid started the altercation. This time he went to a teacher and reported it. But it did no good. The school breached its duty to protect him. Then, a white teacher choked him.
The school has video but refused to share it with the kid’s parent. It refused to tell the parent what, if anything, it did to the teacher. The police allowed the Mother to file a police report but refused to arrest the teacher or even turn over the information to the State Attorney office. Thankfully, students tracked him down with their cellphone footage of the teacher choking him. Thankfully, the West Volusia NAACP got involved!! And now I’m involved.
The reason that I brought up Luther’s case is the sad irony of no matter what our kids do, it’s hard to kick against the prick of racism in schools. A Black kid can be like Luther in having the best accomplishments or come from a troubled home like this kid, Jayquan. Yet, many times the fight and results for our kids remain the same. At the end of the day, they are still “just” Black. Racism and/or implicit bias against them prevail in the schools. We see it in how school officials treat them, quickly report them to law officials, fail to investigate their complaints, and downplay racial misconduct against them unless it becomes a media story wherein the school then tries to save face.
Now it’s important here to understand that not every non-Black Administration has it out for our kids. For example, in Luther’s case his white Principal, Athletic Director, and prior Coach testified in his behalf and showed up at press conferences. One of the white alumni took the case with me pro bono. White people from around the country made calls to the FHSAA, emailed, and supported Luther. It is my hope that we will see the same support as we seek #JusticeForJayquan. But the problem here is that we have to do all of a this in the first place. The problem here is that a Teacher can feel comfortable choking a Black kid in the first place, on video, even with children screaming to let this kid go!! Can you imagine the added trauma when kids are already dealing with seeing an officer suffocate George Floyd? The problem here is also that the school didn’t feel it was necessary to fulfill its duty once the Black kid reported the white kid. The problem here is that neither the school or the police felt the Black student was important enough to follow up in his complaint. The problem is that the school and police felt protecting the white teacher was more important. So then the ultimate problem becomes that the color of our skin tells the Black student that no matter how good he is, it’s never enough. The school will not give him the same protection as similarly situated white students unless we go to the media, or sue the school. This ought not be so. The truth is that we can forgive the spirit yet still report and hold the body accountable
Brothers and sisters, we can put a stop to this. Vet your School boards, PTA, mayors, city council, police chiefs, state Attorney. If these people won’t advocate for our children, VOTE THEM OUT! File complaints with Internal Affairs, and the Department of Education. Get these complaints on the record. Join the NAACP to help strengthen those fighting for you. Until our kids systematically have the same rights and equal protection under the law-not just categorically but in actual everyday application- in the schools as similarly situated non-Black kids, hold every school accountable. Every day.
I implore you to visit CallRawsiWilliams.com to see the video in #JusticeForJayquan, and to see what I’m asking you to do to help bring about his Justice now.
Attorney Rawsi Williams is the founder of Rawsi Williams Law Group, and host of the new TV show “The Attorneys,” and ministry show “The Good News.” Previously, she was a Registered Nurse and Veteran who became an Attorney after her own brother’s incarceration. She has received many awards and successfullt represented clients statewide. Visit and contact her at CallRawsiWilliams.com
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