On October 1, 2025, a mother from South Pontotoc High School shared a post on Facebook claiming that her son was being called the N-word and facing racism from his classmates.
According to Dedra Parker, her son was slapped by a classmate and was then told to leave instead of being protected by the school staff.
Although Dedra submitted a handwritten complaint to the concerned authorities and received a response expressing regret, the situation remained unresolved.
Those responsible for harassing her son did not apologize, leaving her frustrated, which has led her to use Facebook posts to spread the news and awareness.
South Pontotoc High School Kid’s Mom Is Worried About Her Son Being Bullied by Teammates and Facing Racism!
While Dedra shared the post recently, her son has been facing racism at South Pontotoc High School since early August.
On August 5, 2025, just five days after transferring to the school, Dedra’s son, Jaylin, was called a racial slur by a group of white students.
The students reportedly told him, “You might as well get used to it.” Following the incident, Jaylin reported the issue to the school counselor and assistant principal.
Shockingly, the principal recommended that the student be “checked out,” implying that the victim was the one with a problem rather than those who targeted him.
The situation got worse on August 7, when another student sent a racist Snapchat message.
The snap included an image of a monkey emoji holding fried chicken, paired with a photo of the Ku Klux Klan and a caption about hiring “new bodyguards to protect KFC.”
Later, after that, Dedra visited the school immediately, prepared to take action, but decided to trust the principal, a former teacher, who promised to handle the situation.
However, the consequences for the student responsible were minimal: only two to three days in in-school suspension, an apology to the victim, and a written apology to the parent.
The following day, the situation worsened when Jaylin accidentally stepped on the back of a female student’s shoe. She responded by slapping him on the head.
As a worried mother, she called the superintendent, who never returned her call.
Worried for her son’s safety, and after her own mother expressed fear for his life, she withdrew him from the school.
Even though her son was no longer at South Pontotoc, she couldn’t stay silent. She went to the Board of Education to speak up.
At the meeting, she was one of only three Black people in the room. She shared everything that had happened, but no one responded or apologized.
Later, only one person, a principal from the elementary school, who didn’t know her son, called to apologize.
The superintendent eventually sent a letter stating that he had never heard of racism at the school during his 10 years there.
Losing all hope for the authority, she ended her message by calling out the school for ignoring racism and urged other parents of color to speak up.
In her post, she thanked a few people at South Pontotoc who had treated her kindly and made her believe her son would be safe. But she made it clear: racism is still happening, and it’s time for change.
