Viral Fight Video Only Latest Instance of Racism at Kansas School, Students Say

A school district in Kansas has been roiled as students—both past and present—line up with claims that the institution perpetuates a racist environment, causing terror in some Black pupils who are too frightened to return to school.

The Shawnee Mission Unified School District said it has attempted to implement diversity and equity training, but Black students still claim it’s rife with toxicity.

On Thursday, the Black Student Solidarity Network—a student-led activist organization that serves both Kansas and Missouri—assembled a massive community protest after a white male student at Shawnee Mission East High School was filmed repeatedly hurling the N-word at a Black female student before physically attacking her.

“Have our backs!” the crowd chanted.

Dozens of community members attended the demonstration in Prairie View to show support for Brey’anna Brown, the Black sophomore at Shawnee Mission East High School who was filmed in the fight. Many of the protesters wore all black and carried signs demanding action to protect students of color, and messages such as: “Justice for Brey,” “Protect Black Women,” and “Black Lives Matter.”

“I don’t feel like being under this principal anymore,” Brey’anna told local reporters during the demonstration, in videos provided by demonstrators to The Daily Beast. “I feel afraid to go back.”

Brey’anna’s father, Shaun Brown, said he felt like a failure as a parent and was outraged that administrators didn’t take more action against a “white male [putting] his hands on a Black girl.”

“It breaks my heart,” he said. “I go days trying to hold back tears; sometimes it doesn’t work. As a father, I’m known to hold a lot of stuff in, be the strong one. But that breaks my heart to know that there’s a male walking around that didn’t have any regard for the fact that [Brey’anna’s] a female. And, with no hesitation, just started to attack my daughter.”

“I would say to his parents that they failed him,” said Brey’anna’s mother, Linyka Brown, according to local outlet Fox 4 Kansas City. “They failed him because they thought it was O.K. to raise a son…to say racial slurs and fight a girl.”

Students also led a walkout during school hours Monday to show support for Brey’anna, which went well, according to Shawnee Mission district spokesperson David Smith.

“We are helping our students to grow into adulthood and to be able to function within their community and in broader society. Part of that involves helping them to find their voice,” Smith told The Daily Beast. “This is a situation where students had something that they needed to say, and they did it in a very appropriate manner.”

Smith said between 50 to 75 students participated in the 45-minute walkout. Then, Principal Jason Peres held a talk with them about their concerns and how they would collectively move forward.

“I think it was a good conversation; I think it was a productive one,” Smith said. “And, you know, in the end, I think it'll help the students feel more connected.”

According to local outlet KSHB 41 Kansas City, the incident began when Brey’anna confronted a group of white female students about using racial slurs and derogatory terms.

“It didn’t start with the boy. This started with girls,” Dee Moore, a Black parent of a former Shawnee Mission East High student, told The Daily Beast. “The white girls were calling Black girls slaves and n-----s.”

Moore explained that the series of viral clips started with Brey’anna approaching the white female students after she heard them allegedly using racial slurs in the lunchroom. However, the white students denied the accusation when Brey’anna addressed them.

In the videos, which have been shared by community organization Kansas City Defender, a Black student, identified as Brey’anna, can be seen speaking to a white student in a hallway. Brey’anna repeatedly asks the girl if she said something, but the girl continuously denies it and eventually walks away. A male student, dressed in an Adidas shirt, lingers in the hall during the entirety of the confrontation.

In the next clip, the girl has walked away and the male student wanders off in the same direction.

“Don’t say nothing unless you going to come say it to my face because I’m not going to deal with you,” Brey’anna directs to the female student who left.

“Man, shut the fuck up!” the male student shouts from down the hall.

The student, who is white, turns around and calls Brey’anna the N-word before throwing off his bookbag, tossing his phone to the side, and charging toward her.

“What? What, n-----, what?!” he shouts, pushing her.

Then, Brey’anna and the male student start fighting, and the male student repeatedly pummels Brey’anna in the face. The video ends after students in the hall run for help and a teacher breaks up the fight.

“She swung on me!” the male student yells, as another student restrains him.

According to the Shawnee Mission Post, Brey’anna suffered a broken nose from the altercation and was suspended for five days.

It is unclear what exactly happened with the male student, who has not been publicly identified.Smith told The Daily Beast that he was unable to comment on an individual student’s case. However, the district does have a non-discrimination policy and students also are not allowed to fight on school grounds, which could result in suspension, according to the student handbook.

“If you engage in a fight, there will be consequences,” Smith said.

Kansas City Defender Founder and Executive Editor Ryan Sorrell, who has been in touch with Brey’anna and her family since the incident, provided the name of the white male student to The Daily Beast. Though the name has been unconfirmed by the district, The Daily Beast did see a person with the same name charged on Nov. 15 with one count of aggravated battery and great bodily harm—a felony—in Johnson County Court.

In June, that same person had also been charged with aggravated battery, aggravated assault, and battery.

“I'm kinda scared to go back because I don't know what to look forward to,” Brey’anna told KSHB 41 on Wednesday.

Parents and other students say racism in the school district extends beyond the altercation that involved Brey’anna.

Moore said her daughter, Ashten Williams, who is still friends with Brey’anna, left Shawnee Mission East after just one year of attendance. Ashten was repeatedly bullied over her skin color and hair texture during the ninth grade.

“Her focus became her hair and her hair became a big thing,” she said. “That is the most heartbreaking because it was so much focus on and so much time spent on trying to change her hair.”

Moore said her daughter was taught to have Black pride, but after attending Shawnee Mission East, she trickled into a mode of racial self-hate. Ashten became reclusive, doubting herself, developing anxiety and chest pains before going to school. Moore also claimed the white female students at school were treated differently by staff members, that they were rewarded with positive reinforcements for how they looked.

“Now, there's a constant focus on [Ashten’s] appearance. I’m constantly telling my child how beautiful she is, how amazing she is,” Moore said through tears, explaining that Ashten’s time at Shawnee East was so deteriorating that she left to be homeschooled. “That experience has ruined my child.”

Shawnee Mission East is not the only school in the district that has dealt with public incidents of racism.

Brittany Comeaux, a Black parent who had a child graduate from Shawnee Mission North last year, told The Daily Beast that her son endured repeated racial slurs when he played football against Shawnee Mission South High School.

“When they would play Shawnee Mission South it was a game full of racial slurs,” Comeaux said, adding that North may have been “the most integrated school in the district.”

Earlier Thursday, students at Shawnee Mission South High School conducted a walkout “in solidarity” with Shawnee Mission East, according to Sorrell.

Students there were no strangers to racism either, having previously dealt with a coach accused of saying overtly racist remarks.

According to The Kansas City Defender, dozens of students submitted testimonies in 2021 about Shawnee Mission South High School basketball coach and teacher Brett McFall, claiming he discriminated against Black students. The reports suggested that he did not allow students with braids or locs to play on his team. The Kansas City Star also reported that he was investigated for making racially insensitive comments to students on his basketball team in 2017.

Nonetheless, Smith said the district has a “strategic plan” to implement diversity and equity initiatives.

“The district plan is the community's plan, and the community was very clear that diversity, equity, and inclusion needed to be a crucial component of that plan.”

He added that the district has hired a DEI coordinator, and that staff members meet once a month for diversity training.

“Inclusion is not the work of any one individual. It has to be all of our work,” Smith told The Daily Beast. “A lot of that work is one-on-one work with kids. … You have to be willing to address [bias] head on.”

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