Our Legal Counsel and Mallory's ongoing Therapy

On January 26, 2023 our family’s and daughter’s life would forever be changed. As a student at Bryant Junior High School in Bryant, AR, Mallory (an African American 13yr old female), as all students, was supposed to be safe, feel safe and kept safe… but that changed with a single text message from who she “thought” were friends.

Mallory’s very own cheer teammates, who are non-African American, decided that it would be “cool”, “funny” and acceptable to take a photo of her, without her knowledge and send it to a complete stranger in another state while in class. A class and school that didn’t allow phones to be out during the school day. Not only did these 4 cheerleaders send a photo of Mallory, but they also captioned it “come and get some of this black girl p***y”. To further victimize her, they posted it on social media to flaunt their actions.

Thankfully a student saw the post and immediately notified Mallory. Mallory then called me frantic, upset and in tears. As a mother, to get a call like that, when the very place you trusted to keep your child safe didn’t, is terrifying in itself, because I didn’t know how or why, but all I knew was I had to get to my daughter, I had to make sure she felt safe and protected.

After being made aware, the proper steps were not taken, on the school’s behalf, to insure the safety or comfort of our daughter. Mallory was humiliated, bullied and singled out for the purpose of their own personal choices… choices that altered our daughter forever.

Bryant Junior High School administration and school resource officer, completely disregarded, dismissed and disrespected Mallory and our concerns. We were told, “we will handle it”, “we will get more details”, “it was just girl’s play”, “tomorrow”, “no harm no foul”, “only a cell phone violation”, “they didn’t mean it with ill intent”, “they are VERY sorry” and the list goes on. We asked for an investigation… we received nothing other than a “phone call” over a week later. We asked for severe punishment of the girls… they were only given 3 days out of school suspension. We asked for the girls to not be allowed to cheer for the current and next school year…we were told, by administration, that it was up to the Cheer coach…not them…and they are still on the team, as far as we know. We asked for the girls to not be allowed to attend the winter dance in mid Feb… they didn’t think that was necessary to punish them for a “joke” despite the fact that SEVERAL black students received that very punishment for a food prank. We asked for a FORMAL APOLOGY… none has been given. All reasonable requests given the actions of these cheerleaders.

From the start of all of this, no one involved, no administration, no police have checked to see if Mallory is okay. She went from a SOCIAL BUTTERFLY, HONOR ROLL Ambassador to not wanting anyone to speak to her… all in a matter of days since finding out what they did. She now has severe anxiety and had to be checked out by her PCP. Mallory constantly asks us…why….why her? She has trouble sleeping and eating because in her mind, none of this makes sense… they were her friends, teammates…

The resource officer made a complete mess of the police report, and in turn stated “there is no criminal act”. Disregarding that these girls solicited our daughter to a stranger across state lines, who they poorly investigated and “determined to be a minor kid” based on a simple “phone call”. The Superintendent met with us only to tell us that because of our social media videos, the girls have received threats and fear for their safety… not Mallory BUT her aggressors. She even went as far as admitting that she instructed one of the girl’s mother, who happens to be employed with Bryant Public Schools, to text Mallory’s phone to ask to speak with me. She gave her the exact verbiage to say! Further stating that their hands were tied and there was nothing else they could do as punishment because it was determined to only be A CELL PHONE POLICY VIOLATION…. NOT BULLYING, HARASSMENT, EXPLOITATION!

This administration has shown that they do not care about her safety or her mental health. These girls, since being suspended, have gone on their social media accounts, BRAGGING about their punishment. NO ONE is thinking about the danger these girls have put Mallory in. NO ONE is thinking about how she is afraid to leave home in fear of being taken because we don’t know who was behind the computer or phone to receive it, or where else it's been shared. NO ONE is thinking about the therapy that Mallory now has to attend to battle her newly diagnosed anxiety. NO ONE is thinking about the LONG TERM effects this has not only on Mallory BUT OUR ENTIRE FAMILY!

We tried to allow Bryant JHS to handle this the right way… but they have shown that they will not do what’s right.

This is the LAST THING that we wanted to do but in light of their LACK of action, we have decided to challenge Bryant Junior High Administration unfavorable decisions, Bryant Public Schools and the parents of the girls involved. In order to fight this, we will need the help of friends, family, allies and the community at large. This will be a long battle but we will get justice. We want to make sure that no other African American Student will be exploited and their aggressors not be held accountable for their actions. The funds raised will go directly to our legal counsel and Mallory’s ongoing therapy.

What if this was your daughter? Would you be her voice?

We only want EQUAL and FAIR treatment… we will not stop until Justice for Mallory is won. Any donation, big or small, will be greatly appreciated.

This is the ONLY GoFundMe for our family. Thank you all,and please keep Mallory and our family in your prayers as we fight, what we know, will be a long battle. God Bless! #MotivatedForMal