
GEISMAR, LOUISIANA – Bullies broke an eight-year-old boy’s arm in a ‘racist’ attack after telling him to ‘go back to the cotton farm’, his family claim.
Jordan Jackson was hospitalized after he was ‘pushed to the ground and assaulted’ by a 13-year-old outside Spanish Lake Primary School in Geismar, Louisiana, on November 14.
The youngster had been attempting to protect his four-year-old sister J’Niaha at the time of the attack, the boy’s uncle Cris Colbert wrote on a GoFundMe page.
Colbert writes that the siblings had been waiting to be collected from school when he got into an argument with a classmate whose friend began flinging mulch at him, the Huffington Post reports.
‘Jordan asked the child to stop to no avail. At that point, the other child’s 13-year-old brother approached Jordan and pushed him to the ground.’
Colbert says that Jordan had attempted to remove himself from the situation but returned when the boys began throwing mulch at his sister.
A fourth grader yelled at Jordan to ‘go back to the cotton farm’, his family claim.
‘My son, who understands the connotation of that statement because we’ve had those conversations before, was appalled, so he said ‘that’s racist, his furious mother Alana Jackson said.
‘The child responded ‘why do you think it’s so racist? You do need to go back to the cotton farm.’ So at that point my son began to try to defend himself because the 13-year-old was pushing him down and calling him a baby.’
The boy’s uncle said that Jordan was body slammed twice and pushed into the ground multiple times during the attack.
He suffered a fractured right arm and was later diagnosed with post-concussion syndrome.
His mother, who also is a teacher in the community, was called to the school the following day. Colbert says the principal apologized to Alana Jackson but the school refused to accept liability for the incident – or Jordan’s medical bills – as it took place off school property.
Jackson also reported the racial incident to the local police who said it was the school’s responsibility. However, a spokesman said that they are now looking into the incident and reviewing surveillance footage.
‘I am disappointed that our culture has exhibited the behavior that makes our children believe that this type of behavior is acceptable,’ she said.
‘I am saddened that we have come so far yet are still so far away. I am discouraged that many have given up even though we are so far from finished.’
While Jackson has a masters degree in education leadership, she says she has now decided to leave her role in the school district to home-school her children. She says that since coming forward about her son’s attack, she has also suffered backlash from her colleagues.
The family say the other boys involved in the incident have not been reprimanded.
Meanwhile, her son is slowly recovering. Today his double vision finally subsided for the first time, while he has now gone his first 24 hours without a headache, his family report.
A GoFundMe page set up to help towards medical expenses has already raised more than $28,000.