‘With a Hard R’: Racist Attack on 12-Year-Old Black Boy Takes an Emotional Turn After Dozens of Engines Suddenly Roar Outside His Home
An anti-bullying group is going viral for a sweet moment between a Black man and a child who was called a racial slur.
“We just want you to know you’re not alone,” a member of the Anti-Bully Gang told the boy in a July 15 video shared on Instagram by Etan Thomas, a former NBA power forward and Anti-Bully Gang member.
“His mom reached out and let us know he was being called racial slurs, so we pulled up to show him some love & support!” Thomas wrote in the caption.
etanthomas36)
And pull up they did. A parade of flashy cars — including a Corvette, a monster truck, and a three-wheeled Polaris Slingshot — cruised into the boy’s residential complex, revving their engines. Once parked, one of the men pulled the boy aside for a heart-to-heart.
(@etanthomas36)What Happened
The 12-year-old, who was sitting in the driver’s seat of one of the sports cars, explained what happened.
“We were about to leave to get back on the bus, and I was doing something goofy, and one of my friends started recording and said, ‘Do it again!’ and then that’s when another boy came and said the n-word to me.”
“With a hard ‘r’” he added.
The man helped put the incident in perspective. “I hate that you had to go through that, but you know, at the end of the day there are stupid people out there,” he told the boy. “You’ve got people who are raising their kids, and they’re ignorant. Since these parents are ignorant, they’re teaching their kids.”
Before they parted ways, he checked in on the boy one more time. “How do you feel today, though, man, after we talked?” he asked.
The boy said he felt happy.
“We love you, man. That’s why we’re here, bro,” the man told him. “I got your back.”
The sweet gesture was business as usual for the Texas-based group. The nonprofit was created in 2020 by Texas rapper King Kyle Lee and activist Daniel Cotton “to eradicate bullying in all forms.” Known for escorting bullied kids to school in expensive cars, the organization has since expanded to legislative advocacy, counseling, and peer support groups.
The website reads, “ABG was born out of a shared vision to create a world where kindness and empathy prevail over hostility and exclusion.”
As Thomas put it in the caption, the visit was about more than one afternoon. It was “just being a support system for him and showing him how we will be there for him when school starts.”