On  Thursday, March 2, at Wake Forest High School, racial slurs and epithets from an unnamed student were being yelled at 15-year-old sophomore Micah Speed; a horrifying situation that is every black student’s nightmare. In addition, Speed’s family was threatened. According to WRAL.com, Speed was racially harassed race for two months. After suffering through all this harassment, Speed snapped and reacted physically to his bully. The physical altercation between Speed and his aggressor was caught on video with his aggressor yelling racial epithets at Speed, causing him to react with violence. Despite being harassed and having his life threatened, Speed still got suspended for “starting” the fight for five days. Students of color had to witness this injustice of Speed being unfairly punished. It’s unknown whether the color of Speed’s skin influenced the suspension, but it was definitely the school’s zero tolerance policy that got him suspended. In a racially charged incident, a student should have every right to defend themselves.

 
Because of Wake County’s zero tolerance policies, both the victim and bully receive punishments, even if the victim was defending themselves. Regardless of the video evidence showing threats and slurs clearly being thrown against Speed, it was only the part where he physically fought his bully that was acknowledged in his suspension and not the slurs being used against him. According to a 2010 University of Albany study which examined 213 schools and 20 bullying prevention programs, it was determined that zero-tolerance policies were among the least effective strategies to punish and prevent bullying.

 

This policy is unjust because a victim shouldn’t be disciplined with the same punishment as their bully, and lose valuable time they could be using to attend school. Furthermore, a bully won’t truly learn their lesson if their victim has the same exact punishment as them. Suspension also doesn’t help students learn their lesson. According to a 2008 American Psychological Task Force report on zero tolerance, stating that “school suspension in general appears to predict higher future rates of misbehavior and suspension among students who are suspended”.

 

Incidents like this will make other students of color feel threatened and afraid to walk in the hallways at school. Speed was punished for standing up for himself, which might make students of color feel as if they should stay silent and endure racial harassment and violent threats like Speed did for months on end. School is supposed to be a peaceful environment free of harassment and death threats to ensure students can thrive in classes. It’s incidents like Speed’s where the quality of student life goes down due to policies granting the punishments to innocent people.
Violence is rarely the answer, but in Speed’s case it was a justifiable act. His life was being threatened and he was being shamed for the color of his skin. People cannot turn the other cheek when it comes to racism. Individuals should act against it verbally in any situation instead of staying silent.

 

. Many schools can follow Garner High School’s example with their student-run initiative “Project Unity”. With organizations like this, Students can voice their concerns and let their voices be heard in a peaceful manner.

 

Nonetheless, no one should have been treated the way Speed was treated. Zero tolerance policies only hurt students who are victims of bullying, instead of helping and getting justice for them. No one should ever be punished for being a victim of a crime.