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Watch: Mother Furious; Says Son Was Attacked and Horribly Burned by White Classmate With Hot Glue Gun
Watch: Mother Furious; Says Son Was Attacked and Horribly Burned by White Classmate With Hot Glue Gun
Lynette Hamilton demands the school take the repeated hate crimes seriously.
Two days after the presidential election, a Black student was the target of a vicious attack at Ladue Horton Watkins High School in a suburb of St. Louis.
Lynette Hamilton said her son, who is a sophomore at Ladue, was cornered and attacked by one of his white classmates. St. Louis news station KMOX later identified her son as Christian.
As a result of Christian being assaulted with a hot glue gun by another student, he suffered from third degree burns on his arm, said Hamilton. When she attempted to bring the issue up to school officials, she was told to make an appointment with administrators. Frustrated by the inaction of the school, she took her story to social media.
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Hamilton Shared the graphic images of her son's burned arm along with her emotional account to her Facebook page
Hamilton remained persistent and refused leave the issue alone until the school addressed her son’s attack.
Eventually, she heard from Ladue Schools Communications Director Susan Downing, who said that the attack was reported to police. Downing also claimed that the student that did the attack was in fact Hispanic and had been suspended for seven days, reported the New York Daily News.
The school administration has reportedly claimed that the incident was not racially motivated; however, Hamilton believes this incident further proves the racial issues that her community faces. She also feels that a week-long suspension is not a fair punishment for the student who attacked her son.
“There was an African-American student, a couple of years ago, that was charged with attempted assault on another student,” Hamilton told KMOX. “He was expelled for 180 days … because he was African-American.”
After the incident, Hamilton received much support from people of all ethnic backgrounds. On Wednesday, students at Ladue staged a walkout and protest in response to the racially motivated incidents.
- Chelsy Schuman, a Ladue student, took photos of the protests that occurred after the incident
- Lynette Hamilton joined in the protests, where she said many students came up and hugged her
- Hamilton and her son have been encouraged by all the support they've received. Hopefully this causes Ladue to enact positive change
(Photo: sb-borg/Getty Images)
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