NASSAU COUNTY, Fla. — Activists say the apology from the Nassau County Schools Superintendent over an alleged racial incident earlier this month isn’t enough.
Action News Jax previously told you two Fernandina Beach students were disciplined for holding a black baby doll in the air and chanting during a girls volleyball game against Andrew Jackson High School, but the district investigation found no evidence of racial remarks.
Activists claim this isn’t an isolated case and they are citing a separate earlier incident involving a black baby doll.
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The leaders issued an eight-point list of demands.
The demands include an independent assessment of the September 10 incident during the Fernandina Beach girls volleyball game against Andrew Jackson High. They also want a review of the response of school and sports staff and a law enforcement review based on a police report they’re filing on the incident.
The community activists say this was not an isolated incident. Reverend R. Le’ Roy Gundy of SCLC Florida submitted a video he claims shows white Fernandina Beach students holding up and chanting with another black baby doll at a volleyball game against Baldwin, days before the incident at the September 10th game.
“It appears as if it’s the same student; there was more than one student involved,” said Rev. Gundy.
“So we think at this point, the superintendent should relieve the principal and should relieve the Athletic Director; if she can’t do that, then she needs to go herself,” Gundy demanded.
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Action News Jax and Reverend Darien K Bolden were there on September 15th when Nassau County School District Superintendent Dr Kathy Burns came to his church to apologize for the alleged racial incident.
“We don’t want any sports team or anyone else coming into our community or coming through our events and feel like they are less than,” Burns said at the time.
On Tuesday, he told me why that apology won’t suffice.
“How can you conclude the investigation and haven’t spoken to the victims and have not spoken to any of the kids, none of them?” said Bolden.
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Rev. Gundy says the actions on video are a part of a wider international trend of offensive incidents, including black baby dolls.
“Our feelings are valid, our feelings are real, and we can be hurt too. And because we, people, are so accustomed to us internalizing our pain when we speak out that it’s immediately dismissed,” said Dr Catherine Barnes, National Coalition of 100 Black Women.
We reached out to the school district for comment, and we’re awaiting a response.
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