‘Not Going to Let It Go’: Furious Mother Rejects Apology Letter for White Students Who Attacked Black Child in Viral Video, Wants Them to Pay the Price
A horrifying viral video shows an 11-year-old Black girl being surrounded and viciously bullied by white middle school students in a park in Carlsbad, California, […] ‘Not Going to Let It Go’: Furious Mother Rejects Apology Letter for White Students Who Attacked Black Child in Viral Video, Wants Them to Pay the Price
Black News 
A horrifying viral video shows an 11-year-old Black girl being surrounded and viciously bullied by white middle school students in a park in Carlsbad, California, a city with just a one percent African American population.
The girl was called the N-word multiple times and slapped in the face to provoke her into a fight. Since news of the March 3 incident broke, police and school officials have launched an investigation, and the girl’s mother, April Amor, is demanding that all those involved be prosecuted.
Amor, who is a 20-year resident of Carlsbad, said racism has been an ongoing problem in the fifth-wealthiest city in California. She has since pulled her daughter from Aviara Oaks Middle School and is homeschooling her instead. In the meantime, she is turning to local news outlets and school board meetings to shine a light on the issue and rally support.
“It’s out in the open, and we’re not going to let it go away,” she told NBC7 San Diego on March 11. “I’m not going to let it go away. I want justice for my daughter.”
Amor said the children who bullied her daughter wrote notes of apology, but for her, “that’s not enough,” she told the outlet. “They need to be prosecuted. I want to see justice for my daughter and for all of the other children who have suffered the same type of treatment.”
The video is difficult to watch, with children hurling racial slurs and taunting Amor’s daughter as she sat on her bicycle in Poinsettia Park. “I just want to go home,” she told the group, but instead she was blocked from leaving and eventually slapped in the face before getting off her bicycle and fighting back.
“She stood her ground,” Amor told the outlet. “I told my daughter, you don’t start fights, but you better finish them. And I’m proud. I’m proud of how she conducted herself.”
At a March 13 school board meeting, Amor claimed that the student who blocked her daughter was simply given lunchtime detention, and her complaints were brushed off until the video surfaced. “So many people have been fighting to bring awareness to these issues, but have been called ‘troublemakers’ or ‘liars.’ Now we see it on video, and this is not a one-time occurrence.”
“For those who have stayed silent after this video, shame on you,” she told the room in a powerful moment. “You are part of the problem.”
The Carlsbad School District and the Carlsbad Police Department were among those addressing the shocking footage, which was seen by hundreds of thousands after it was posted on Facebook on March 5.
In a joint statement, the school district and police said, “[We] take incidents involving accusations of bullying, harassment, and discriminatory language that may be deemed as a hate crime seriously. We are committed to ensuring all members of our community, especially students, feel safe and respected.”
But Amor remains skeptical, telling CBS 8 San Diego, “It is my belief that if it weren’t for the video that is circulating, this matter would be swept under the rug as many other incidents.”
