Healthy African-American Brothers Raised in Senegal Beaten, Called 'Ebola' in Hysterical Attack on Playground at NYC School
Just a day after New York City announced the diagnosis of the city's first Ebola victim, two young African-American brothers who recently returned to the U.S. after being raised in Senegal were reportedly beaten and called "Ebola" by at least 12 students on the playground at a Bronx school last Friday.
City officials announced last Thursday that Manhattan doctor Craig Spencer, 33, who recently treated Ebola patients in Guinea, West Africa, had fallen ill from the virus.
The brothers, 11-year-old sixth grader, Pape, and 13-year-old eighth grader, Amadou, were attacked at I.S. 318 in Tremont, according to NBC.
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Their father, Ousame Drame, said they were punched repeatedly by other students in the schoolyard after being taunted for two weeks. He also explained that because they are French speakers who returned to the U.S. three weeks ago, they did not know how to respond to their attackers.
Drame explained that his sons were treated like cancers at the school after other students whispered the word Ebola around them and told other students not to talk to them.
"If they go to the gym they don't want them touching the ball — 'Oh, you have Ebola, don't play with us,'" said Drame.
The Christian Post reached out to I.S. 318 for comment Tuesday but a school representative said the principal "had no comment."
Charles Cooper of the African Advisory Council, which highlighted the attacks on the boys, said school administrators did not do enough to protect the brothers.
"Where was the school administrators, where was the school staff when all of this was happening?" he asked.
In further reaction to MSNBC's Joy Ann Reid, Cooper explained that he experienced bullying when he first emigrated from Liberia as a child, but called what happened to the boys over Ebola fears "vicious."
"I experienced bullying and teasing but this is more heightened, this is more vicious. The stigmatization goes along with Ebola regardless of what country you come from. They come from Senegal, I'm from Liberia, but we're all in the same boat," he said.
He further explained that Africans have been feeling the effects of Ebola stigmatization across the city.
"We're getting different occurrences of Ebola stigmatization on the train, bullying on the train. I commend Mr. Drame because he came forward. Most of the time it's difficult to put a face to what is going on; and because he was strong enough to come forward and let the African Advisory Council know what is going on … more and more folks are coming forward and saying this is happening to me you are not alone. This is happening in Staten Island, this is happening in the Bronx, this is happening in Harlem, this is happening in Brooklyn and it must be stopped," he said.
New York City Schools Chancellor Carmen Farina said in a statement that: "We will not tolerate intimidation or bullying of our students, especially in this moment when New Yorkers need to come together."
