A 10th-grade student identified as Justin Johnson has taken over the trends amidst stunning reports of being bullied to death!
Bullying is typical behaviour found among children and young adults but in Johnson’s case, it was reportedly taken to such an extreme level that it ended with his tragic demise.
At least those are the allegations being made by his family and friends who claim he was targeted for his race and bullied, beaten, and attacked so relentlessly that his heart eventually just gave up and he died.
According to Matt Moyer of Channel 5 Ratchet News, the trouble started on the night of Friday, April 26th, 2024.
On that fateful night, Justin, who originally hails from Jamaica, was with some colleagues from his High School, the Central Dauphin High School in Harrisburg, Dauphin County, Pennsylvania.
The young man had made some friends from school as all kids are bound to do but what he did not know, according to Moyer, was that these ‘friends’ weren’t actually friends of his but were pretending to be for their own ulterior motives.
Moyer alleged the kids were ‘racists’ and on the night of the assault, they chased Johnson around, bullying and taunting him.
Some of the kids allegedly yelled “ran back to Africa” with another one asking sarcastically “oh where the F&$k did he go, he went back to F$&king Africa” as they chased him around.
Johnson was even allegedly shot at with a pellet gun but eventually, he managed to outrun his tormentors and went back home.
Upon reaching his house, he collapsed and never woke up.
The Central Dauphin School District released a statement in the wake of Johnson’s death, expressing condolences over his tragic passing.
The statement added: “We understand that the circumstances around Justin’s death have not been determined, however, there are social media reports that indicated that Justin was subjected to racial insensitivity from classmates,”
It went on to emphasize that the alleged behavior is not consistent with the CDSD’s values and is not tolerated in the District.
“Hate speech or any behavior that denigrates another person’s rights will not be tolerated and is not consistent with the mission, vision, and values of CDSD,” the statement added.
In the wake of Johnson’s death, protests were sparked among students, particularly those of African-American and minority backgrounds at the school.
They bitterly complained that despite suffering similar harassment from their white colleagues, the school has never taken any action.
Johnson’s death was just another similar tragedy being swept under the rug, they argued.
Meanwhile, an autopsy conducted on Johnson revealed he died from complications due to sickle cell disease with cardiomyopathy as a contributing factor.
The coroner said his death was completely natural.
The findings, coupled with Lower Paxton Township Police revealing that Justin told his father he was going to play ‘tag’ with his friends about an hour and a half before he was found unresponsive, led to some pushback against the narrative he was racially targeted and harmed.
School Board President Mike Jacobs said members of the community should not rush to judgment over what might have happened, while Police said: “video footage viewed to date does not show Johnson being harmed,”.
However, social media footage showed Johnson being chased around and the comments about going back to Africa were clearly heard.
These led to concerns being raised at a School Board meeting.
“How would you feel if your child came home crying because they were bullied for being Black, or crying because their teachers made them feel some type of way?” Central Dauphin graduate Jakasia Cabbagestalk asked the school board during a recent meeting.
“I shouldn’t have to come to you and ask that you follow the promises you make of making sure your students are treated equally,” 11th grader Drea Barkal told the same board.
A sickle cell crisis, which precipitated Johnson’s death, can be triggered by “physical or psychological stress, pain or exertion”, according to Penn Live.
The question this tragedy raises now is even if he died from a crisis, was it triggered by the stress brought on by the game he played with his friends?
And even if it did, does that make them culpable in his death? Children play all sorts of games at all times and even if the other kids were a bit racist, does that make them responsible for another kid dying?
These are all hard questions with no easy answers, yet it can not be denied that based on the testimony of students as outlined in the Board meeting, there are some racial issues that clearly need resolving at Central Dauphin High School.
Lower Paxton Township Police continue to investigate.