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An alleged "slave auction" held by students at a North Carolina school was reportedly selling black students, a parent alleged on Facebook, prompting one of the district's superintendents to send an open letter to the school community condemning racism.
"We have become aware of recent incidents involving students using racially insensitive language and offensive imagery," said Chatham County Schools Superintendent Dr. Anthony Jackson. However, the letter did not specifically describe the incidents.
Ashley Palmer, a parent of one of the students in the alleged auction, posted on Facebook Friday saying the auction was put on by his classmates. "[W]hen he opened up we were made aware that this type of stuff seems to be the norm so much that he didn't think it was worth sharing," she wrote.
Palmer's son, who she called "a strong unapologetically black young man" in her Facebook post, told her that during the auction, one of his friends went for "$350 and another student was the 'Slavemaster' because he 'knew how to handle them.'"
She said that the students who participated in the "slave auction" had received a one-day suspension for the alleged incident. She claimed in a second Facebook post that after the "slavemaster" returned to school the next day, the child "'accidentally' hit my son with a baseball 4 times."
The school has not taken further action at this time, Palmer wrote.
Newsweek reached out to Ashley Palmer for comment.
The following day, Jackson sent the letter to families saying the school district was aware of incidents involving students using "racially insensitive language" and said the incidents were "unacceptable" and "will not be tolerated."
Chatham County Schools spokeswomen Nancy Wykle told Newsweek that CCS has no further comment and redirected us to the letter Jackson sent on Tuesday.
"I want to be crystal clear: Racist, homophobic or otherwise hateful behavior or speech has no place in the Chatham County School System," Jackson said in the letter. "We are better than this as a school system and a community."
Jackson added they are working with the families and students who were targeted by the incidents and that the school would be holding people accountable who are acting "outside of our expectations." The letter did not further explain what that entails.
It's unclear the exact day the alleged auction occurred or how many students were involved. Palmer said on Facebook she would be looking at legal action for the alleged "assault and continuous harassment" towards her son at school, which she says he isn't safe at.
Update 03/10/22, 1:28 p.m. ET: This article was updated with additional information.
