A Texas middle school is investigating serious bullying claims after a Black student attended a sleepover where peers subjected him to terrible treatment.
SeMarion Humphrey is a 13-year-old student at Haggard Middle School in Plano. He attended a sleepover during the weekend of February 12. SeMarion expected it to be just the student whose house it was. He was surprised to discover three other boys at the event.
The change was a little jarring for SeMarion, who suffers from anxiety and takes sleep medication. After a day of frog hunting that saw him getting shot by his peers with BB guns and called homophobic and racial slurs, they had more bullying in store when they awoke him from his sleep. The boys tricked SeMarion into drinking a cup of the boys' urine.
SeMarion's mother, Summer Smith, took her story to Facebook after the school, which had not provided the family support with previous bullying claims, said it couldn't do anything about the bullying because it happened off-campus.
Summer Smith is looking for justice for her son, SeMarion Humphrey. The 13-year-old eighth grader went to a sleepover that turned into a nightmare as he became the victim of bullying that Summer believes was racially motivated. SeMarion attended the sleepover the weekend of February 12, believing it would be just himself and the child whose house he was going to.
When he arrived, there were another three boys there. Three of the four boys were white, while the fourth was Hispanic. They leveled both racial and homophobic slurs at SeMarion throughout the weekend. That wasn't the worst of the treatment, however, as Summer would share in her Facebook post about the matter.
"Imagine being a happy kid who loves making people smile and having a good time … Imagine your classmates and football team members turning on you and targeting you," she wrote.
"Imagine a group of those same football team members attacking you in the locker-room with a belt… Imagine being hit in the private area and when you tell an adult you are told 'boys will be boys.'"
"Imagine being forced to drink the urine of not only a boy who thought was your friend, but his friends … Imagine the video of you drinking the urine being sent to multiple people in your school … Imagine the school telling you they can't do a thing about it because 'the incidents didn't all take place on campus,'" read the Facebook post, which has since been hidden, according to NBC News.
"My son doesn't have to imagine these things, they are all his reality."
According to the family's attorney, Kim T. Cole, SeMarion was tricked into drinking the boys' urine after being awoken from his sleep. The 13-year-old has anxiety and takes medication to help him get to sleep.
"You can see the kids slapping him and they woke him up and told him he was not breathing and had to drink this," the attorney said of the videos Summer shared.
"They said he needed to drink water, but what he’s actually drinking is urine."
The attorney also shared that SeMarion didn't remember the incident right away. He found out about it when another classmate mentioned the footage to him.
"He was half asleep and didn't remember it," she shared.
Summer had previously gone to both the school and the district asking for help regarding bullying. SeMarion was bullied during the 2019-2020 football season, with instances of matters getting physical.
Days after the incident was first reported to the Plano Independent School District, the district announced an investigation is underway. "Plano ISD does not and will not tolerate bullying or harassment and believes every student must be treated with dignity and respect," Superintendent Sara Bonser said in a video statement.
"Miss Smith has had to leave her home. She's had to move out of her house," her attorney shared.
"She's no longer living where she was. Her daughter has experienced threats. I have received threats. It's not just the district having issues … She's receiving threats, she's no longer safe, her children no longer feel safe, so they've left their home."
SeMarion and his family have a long way to go to heal from this traumatic event. A GoFundMe page has been started to cover any legal fees and therapy that the boy and his family might need. It's also to help him transfer to a private school next fall, after he finishes out this year virtually.
