‘To My Favorite Cotton Picker’: California Elementary Student Receives Racist Card During Black History Month

A school district in California is in an uproar after an elementary school class drew highly racist cards for their Black classmates.

KTLA 5 reported a sixth grader at Pepper Tree Elementary School received cards with drawings that raised concerns.

One card read, “You’re my favorite monkey,” while another said, “To my favorite cotton picker.”

Maylana Douglas, mother of the student in question, said the cards are disturbing. “They said that they were going to give her a drawing that specifically said, ‘You’re my favorite slave,’” Douglas told the outlet.

“And they were going to show her as a slave hanging from a tree.”

Douglas said his child claims to have been offered massages and back rubs from a group of girls at school, as well. “It’s your month, you’re entitled to back rubs,” the girls told the Douglas’ daughter. “And apparently, someone told her, well, maybe only half the month because you’re only half Black.”

Douglas and her husband, Rome Douglas, have since pulled their child from the school due to ongoing harassment. With three children in total attending the school, they are shocked the Upland Unified School District hasn’t done much. The child’s grandparent, Earlie Douglas, posted the images on Facebook in a viral post, to grow awareness.

After the images were made public, The Daily Beast reported the district released an apologetic video featuring district board president, Truman Garnett, to discuss the values of the district.

“Recent racially insensitive, unacceptable incidents have taken place in our schools. We deeply regret the hurt that this behavior has caused our students, families, and our community,” Garnett said. “I want to make it perfectly clear that we have a strict zero-tolerance policy on any type of hate speech; harassment; discriminatory practices, behaviors; racial slurs; and any report of these actions will be investigated thoroughly and immediately.”

With the comments turned off, Lynn Carmen, district superintendent, said she was heartbroken over the incident. “We understand that learning is hindered if students don’t feel safe,” Carmen said. “We must teach students how their actions have the ability to deeply affect those around them.”

Even though Garnett said the district would take “disciplinary action without hesitation” in the video, according to KTLA, when asked if the student who created the racist images would be disciplined, the district claimed privacy laws don’t allow them to make that information public.