Going to May Madness is a rite of passage in the Austin, TX, school Camille Lamy attends. It was a great day at Bridge Point Elementary in Eanes ISD. The school features multiple classes per grade, with Camille’s 5th grade being no exception. As the day had team-based activities and events, Camille’s class voted and decided their team color would be black.
While Camille herself had voted for grey, her choice wasn’t the most popular. She tossed on a set of black shorts and a T-shirt she had and set off for class. Her pride on that May 12th, 2023 school day was just as high as that of every other student. Many of the other students across the various teams had painted their faces to convey that spirit, and one of Camille’s teammates brought a “camo stick,” a grease stick commonly used by hunters as well as athletes.
Drawing stripes on her face as well as a boy, Camille later rubbed it across her face. After seeing this, Katelyn Schueller, a substitute teacher, grabbed them up, saying, “I know your intent was not to be racist, but what you did was racist.” Despite never having interacted with the kids, she made them go to the bathrooms to wash it off, something that was impossible as the only scrubbing aid was toilet paper. After that failed, she sent the pair to the counselor’s office.
As luck would have it, Rachael Sherman, a “school-based therapist” who happens to be one of the only black employees at the school, happened to be in the area. While not speaking with Camille, the tyke said Sherman kept passing back and forth outside the door as she waited to see the principal.
When Principal Bryant arrived, there was no asking for their side, or listening to anything they had to say on the matter. Instead, he proceeded to echo the racist undertones of Schueller, and dress them up one side and down the other. Handing Camille a wet towel to wash her face unsuccessfully, leading Bryant to scrub her face himself. Doing so left her face red and tingling after removing the offensive paint.
The cherry on top? He then forced Camille to apologize to Schueller for her “racist” actions. An apology he had her practice and then deliver. As she left for the day she saw Schueller being coddled by Sherman over the racism of the grease stick.
This isn’t racism. This is white guilt and liberalism infecting our school system yet again. For shame on the BPE.
