After a mother was brutally attacked by Chicago middle school students, everyone — from politicians to folks on the opposite side of the country to the parents of the involved students — are speaking out. Now, a Black former Chicago Public Schools’ principal is sharing her two cents, calling out the people she says played a quiet but dangerous role in the lead up to the attack.
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The Root previously reported that 33-year-old Corshawnda Hatter was walking home with her two young children when a group of Orville T Bright Elementary School students followed them on Monday (Nov. 17). They berated, punched, kicked and slammed Hatter and her 9-year-old son. Someone recorded the whole incident.
Dr. Assata Moore is calling out those who argued the attack is “not the school’s fault.”
“As a former principal and educator for the past 30 years, that’s bullshit,” a woman identified as Dr. Assata Moore in the caption said in a scathing Instagram post. “We play a part in it. Yes— parenting is a part, but what I know is as long as I was an educator, every two weeks I was receiving taxpayers’ dollars to do a job.”
CBS News reports that Hatter’s 9-year-old had been bullied for two years because of how she walks and talks due to the disease. Hatter claimed the school enabled the bullying by failing to act, which ultimately led to the attack, so she’s also exploring legal action against the school.
Moore declared, that as a Black woman “working in Chicago with Black students in our neighborhoods,” she had a duty to impress that “education was more than mathematics and reading. I had to address values. I had to address the way students treated each other and I had to hold them accountable.”
Dr. Moore continued: “I don’t give a god damn about what time it was or where they were at,” addressing how the attack occurred off school grounds. “What happens prior to them leaving the school— what are we feeding them, or not feeding them, that allows them to behave that way? What are the children thinking of the principal and the leadership at that school that they can do that, record it and get away with it? That says a lot about the environment of the school.”
Here’s where her nearly two-minute clip resonated with viewers even more, and gave good ole’ Principal Joe Clark vibes from the 1989 movie “Lean on Me.”
“Cause I’ll be god damned if any of my students were to behave that way,” she said, making it crystal clear that, “It only take students one time to do that at my school, cause I don’t fuck around with children. And too many of us are scared of children, we’re scared of parents.” Whew.
She recalled that during her high school’s morning circle, that’s where issues were addressed and where she’d also give students a taste of their own medicine! “I’m putting that video up. Y’all want to talk about her lashes— […] I’m gon’ talk about those raggedy ass fake Crocs that you had on. […] I’m gon’ treat you the same way you treat others and the lesson will be there— do unto others as you would want unto you.”
Instagram users couldn’t get enough of Moore, overwhelmingly agreeing with her in the comments.
“Schools are literally social service agencies in a way. You have families for 13 years,” one user wrote. “We need to act like these kids are the future and require something of them.”
A second added, “We need more leadership like her,” while a third person commented, “from age 6-18 your at school majority of your life. The school plays a major role.”
Hatter created an official GoFundMe after fraudulent campaigns were created, reportedly racking up $200,000. Her authorized fundraiser, so far, has raised just over $30,000. Hatter, who was diagnosed with sickle cell anemia, plans to press charges against the kids’ parents
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