Photo courtesy of ABC7 News.
A Connecticut teenager was arrested after he called classmate Jamar Medor the N-word on Snapchat with the caption, “Why is he not in chains?”
The post was made on May 7.
The 16-year-old from Fairfield posted the comment along with a photo of Jamar Medor, also 16, from behind and sitting in his high school classroom. The caption in full read, “Why is there a n****r in my homeroom? Why is he not in chains?”
Medor was unaware that a photograph of him had been taken in class. His younger brother was also harassed through Facebook later that weekend.
Several students were suspended from Fairfield Warde High School in connection to the post. A petition calling for the student responsible to be expelled was also launched and received more than 30,000 signatures.
“I was like ‘oh my god,’ my mouth just dropped because I couldn’t believe it,” said the teen’s mother, Judith Medor. “How the other student would do something like this regarding my son.”
The tenth-grader said that he didn’t feel safe after finding out about the racist Snapchat post.
“I have no words. Like, I’m speechless. I’m kind of mad and upset and kind of sad, too,” said Jamar Medor. “I just don’t feel comfortable going to school or walking the halls, so I stayed home today actually,” he said on May 13.
After a hearing by the school board and thanks to the petition, the student who posted the captioned photo on Snapchat was expelled.
“Thank you so much everyone for signing the petition. We’ve just been informed that Fairfield Warde decided to expel the student who made the post. This would not have been possible without all of your help. So, thank you. Thank you for choosing accountability and thank you for showing the Medor family that Fairfield County cares.”
The expelled student was also charged with second-degree “ridicule on account of creed, religion, color, denomination, nationality or race” and “breach of peace.”
Fairfield County is one of the most affluent counties in the United States. The median income in the well-to-do county is roughly $125,000 compared to the state’s median income of $78,833. It isn’t
the most diverse community either and has a reputation for being extremely racist. The population is damn near 90% white. Blacks make up roughly 2% of the population.