This is a great story I stumbled across of how, as a young schoolgirl, the OP was harassed by a racist schoolmate, lived through hell throughout school, and finally got her revenge.
Racist bully ruins my life, I annihilated hers
So the title is self explanatory but you will be suprised. When I(F28) was in elementary school, I had a bully. I’ll call her Aia because it’s the only nice thing I will ever do for her. It all started in the 1st grade, She was the instant popular girl because she talked about her time in Ghana. She was born and raised there up until she was 4 years old when her parents immigrated to America and I thought that was so cool because the only immigrants I have ever known were from Mexico(I’m also Mexican which is something you need to remember) because we lived in Texas. I asked her what was life like in Africa she looked at me and said in a very smug voice.
‘A lot better than Mexico.’
I thought that was weird but I let it go because we were kids at the time and I think she just wanted to be cool or something. As the year went on, she always made off handed comments about me being Mexican and it was always directed towards me. It wasn’t until the 2nd grade when we were just learning this brand new word that we have never heard of before, racism. 7 year old me at the time vaguely understood it because my mom taught me the words that was derogatory towards us and wanted me to be aware of them. Anyway, we were watching a cartoon about Martin Luther King jr and we were at a scene where the protesters were being unjustly arrested, I thought it was cruel and didn’t think it was fair. Aia though looked at me and shouted.
‘A beaner like you would never understand!’
For those who don’t know, the word beaner is a slur against Latin people. Sure it’s not as disgusting as the n-word but it Is a disgusting word to people like me and I’ve been called that a lot of times even back then. I was horrified being called that in the middle of class and I looked at my teacher who just shrugged her shoulders and went back to the show. I couldn’t believe it, we’re learning about the civil rights movement and I was called a racial slur in front of everyone. I tried asking my teacher why didn’t she say anything because what A called me was a bad word towards me and my ethnicity, all she did was say: it’s just a word justaboredcitezen, sticks and stones.
I ran home in tears and told my mom everything, she was upset at first but at the time she told me that Aia probably didn’t know that that word was a bad word towards Latin people and maybe she’ll figure it out when she’s older or say sorry the next day.
How wrong my mother was.
For the next 4 years, Aia would throw racial slurs at me. Calling me a beaner who eats nothing but beans or a wet back because I must have crossed the Rio Grande river. I begged her every single time to stop and I went to my teachers pleading with them for help but they never did anything. It wasn’t just the racial slurs she threw at me. She would insult me for the way I looked the way my hair was why I was bigger compared to the other girls who were slim(she wasn’t a model herself either). Things got worse in the 4th grade, I was going through a rough time because my mom was dating a man who drank beer as if prohibition ended. He also smoked heavily and the smell will end up on my clothes which added fuel for Aia’s fire. It was when D.A.R.E was a big thing back in the day, A would always use me as an example about the dangers of smoking. Pointing out how the smell was so bad that she constantly plugged her nose every time she walked by me. It led to rumors of me never taking a bath that followed me up until the end of 6th grade.
At this time my mom was starting to realize that Aia was not stopping and she tried contacting the school but all she would get was that it was just a “disagreement between 2 classmates”.She wrote notes for me to give to my teachers but nothing would happen and in the 5th grade things really took a bad toll.
My grandfather passed away and his death hurt me so much that even to this day I still feel that raw pain of his passing. Word got out to my school and Aia walked up to me saying how sorry she was that my grandfather was gone. I naively thought that maybe just maybe she would stop being a bully and say sorry for saying racist things towards me.
Nope.
‘It’s sad that he died to get away from you, I would too if I realized my granddaughter was so ugly!’
I broke into tears while she and a few of her friends laughed. And as always none of my teachers did anything to stop her. I told my mom who managed to finally get ahold of my teacher and demanded that she’d do something about a or else she was gonna go up there and make her stop. So for the 1st time in the whole year, my teacher walked up to Aia and told her to stop being so mean to me. A look at her and burst into tears crying that she was being so mean.
‘It’s because I’m black isn’t it!?’
Immediately my stupid teacher backed off. Aia would go on to use that phrase EVERY. SINGLE. TIME any of our teachers even attempted to do something. Now you’re probably wondering how did she ruin my life, well I’m getting to it.
Things slowly quieted down when I was in 6th grade but a was plotting something. I used to draw anime a lot. I wasn’t any good but I practiced every single day and slowly my skills were improving. I was drawing the main cast of sailor moon during free period and it was a decent first attempt really. For once there were no stray pencil marks and I didn’t have to erase as much. I left to go to the bathroom and when I came back my drawing was ruined. It had pen marks everywhere with the words beaner and wetback in permanent marker all over it. I was devastated and broke down, I worked so hard on that drawing and it was vandalized with hate. I looked over to a group of desks where Aia was sitting and I saw her laughing. She and a couple of her girlfriends were saying how funny it was I was crying over a stupid picture and I saw that she had that stupid permanent marker in her desk.
I marched up to her and yelled at her. I demand to know what is it about me she hated so much why was she acting like a racist towards me when I did nothing to her. I was crying I was screaming and my teacher told both of us to go to the office. I thought we were finally going to solve the issue but as always I was wrong.
My principal looked at the both of us and said that I SHOULD APOLOGIZE TO AIA!
Me: What?
P: Apologize to a for yelling at her. Just because you’re upset overdrawing doesn’t mean you have to yell at a classmate for it.
Me: But she ruined my drawing! She wrote slurs all over it!
I should point out that she even had permanent marker stains on her hands.
Me: Why aren’t you telling her that you don’t tolerate racism in this school!? Why are you always taking her side?
P: I’m not taking sides young lady but those are just words. Sticks and stones.
I honestly didn’t know what to feel at that moment. I realized that Aia was getting away with her racism and there was nothing I could do about it. I still refused to apologize and the principal called my mom who demanded that the principal do something about Aia but nothing happened as always.
After that incident, Aia was emboldened at the fact that she could get away with the bullying and made my life hell.
She destroyed me.
It was to the point where I could no longer draw again. Even to this day if I even try to draw a character I liked, I would break into tears and just stop. My mom tried everything. She pleaded she demanded and she threatened but my school just brushed it off as an overprotective single mom who just didn’t like seeing her overly sensitive child hurt. In my mom’s perspective from what she told me she watched as her happy-go-lucky little girl slowly morphed into a sad and combative teenager. I developed a hatred towards my own ethnicity and I cried that I wished I was white because I hated being called those words and I hated the way my face looked because I could see my Native American features. That’s right, I’m indigenous too. She made me hate myself.
It was only after elementary school did the bullying finally stop because she went to a different junior high school but just because I was able to get away from her didn’t mean that the effects of her bullying stopped.
I had to go to therapy to get rid the terrible things she said to me out of my head and slowly regain myself as a person. My family who knew of the bullying gathered around and gave me unconditionallove and support, all the while telling me stories of our ansetors who started our family, how they fled spain during the Texas revolution. I even went to the tribe I was descended from to help gain a better understanding of my indigenous roots and they helped me immensely as well.
Yeah Aia and I ended up going to the same high school but I avoided her like the plague because I wanted nothing to do with her or her bullshit. Aia was a model student and during black history month, we used to have an assembly where we talked about the great black figures in history. She would always go on the podium and talk about how proud she was of her race and that we should embrace everyone of different race, religion and all that good stuff.
It took all of my willpower and constant reminding of myself that what happened in elementary school was in the past to not laugh and roll my eyes.I just thought she was a piece of work.
Fast forward to 2021.
I was packing up my room because I was getting ready to move some of my stuff to my new house with my then fiance( now husband) While we were planning our wedding. I was reading a book on my phone when I got a notification from someone I hadn’t seen since high school.
It was Aia!
I’m an adult now so instead of feeling the terrible anxiety I would always feel whenever I would get a note from her, I just looked at it annoyed and wondered what the hell did she want and opened it. Apparently she was hosting our elementary school reunion because the old building was being torn down in place of a new one. She was inviting everyone who went to school there so we can say goodbye to the old girl. Honestly I didn’t want to go because that school has done nothing but bring me grief and anger, just driving by it over the years would make my heart pound uncomfortably.
I wanted to decline but I thought to myself, that stupid school will be destroyed, why not spit on it or something. And then something sparked in my head. This could be my last chance to expose Aia for what she really was. Aia no good racist who takes joy in other people’s misery. And it wasn’t just me she threw racial slurs at. She was like that to everyone! From the girl who was from Delhi to a Chinese student who ended up transferring to a different school because he couldn’t take it anymore.
The planning.
Having dinner with my mom, I asked her if she remembered the girl who used to bully me. She gripped her fork and said that she did remember and how much she hated that little bitch. I asked her if she remembered going to the school many times to complain about her and she said yes and that she had written down everything that was said. And knowing my mom she never threw anything away because it was important documents. I decided to look into her old files and I found them. It was not only the notes mom took but it was also full of the hateful messages Aia wrote to me even my sailor moon drawing that had those terrible racial slurs on it. The terrible feeling of self hatred and sorrow came back in full. I was close to tears seeing that drawing and those notes. I really wanted to know why she had so much hate in her heart. After calming myself down, I went to work. I printed copies of the notes along with a note from my principal which said ‘it seems that Aia called justaboredcitzen nasty words based on her ethnicity’ it was even signed by that principal which PROVED two things: A was a racist and the school knew but refused to do anything.
The revenge.
The little party was basically a barbecue on the school playground. I showed up in casual clothing and saw my old classmates for the 1st time in years. To say the least, I was the only one who still looked fresh faced and not worn down by parenthood. I did catch up to a few of them most of them were actually Aia’s victims but unlike me they ignored her when she would bully them. Looking around I actually saw some known members of our local equal rights group, I assumed she invited them because Aia made a name for herself over the years since graduation. It almost made me feel sorry for what I was going to do. And when I mean almost I mean never. The little barbecue went by smoothly and Aia was talking about the beautiful memories she had at our old school and that she was so thankful that they welcomed her with open arms because she was an immigrant from a far away country and was worried of not being able to belong. I remembered how proud she was when she first walked in our class, no fear at all. After her passionate farewell speech everyone in our class took turns saying their own farewells. They half-assed their speeches and some just said that the school was awesome.
When it was my turn, I looked around and saw everyone staring at me. Aia is standing there with a confident smile on her face as if she thought that I was so beaten down that I would just say whatever with the school and that’s it. But nope. Over the years since graduation, I sort of developed a “I don’t give a fuck” attitude. I say what I say and I will do a microphone drop if I have to. I talked about how I was so nervous going to the school because it was something new and I knew that it would lead me to a path of adulthood. I talked about how this damn school had brought nothing but nightmares, horrible teachers and a terrible student who bullied me so much that my poor mother had to spend thousands of dollars of her life savings just to give me therapy because I could not function well. I then looked at Aia and said that she was a prime example of the American dream. An immigrant who worked tirelessly to make it in this complicated country. I then said in the same smug tone of voice she had twenty years ago.
‘ I am so glad you grew out of your racism.’
And with that I stood up and left. And remember what I said about those notes my mom kept? Well I sent them to that local group anonymously and told them that their star volunteer was not who she was. I just thought that would be the end of it but I did not know of the absolute shit storm I caused.
Aia’s reputation destroyed!
When the leader of the group saw the notes, he was livid. He immediately told her that she was no longer welcomed and said that she was a terrible example for the people they were helping. Her fiance dumped her, she lost her job and as it turns out, her parents never knew of the bullying. I guess my principle decided that it wasn’t worth calling them years ago.
They were angry with her and demanded to know where did she get this attitude because from when I found out her father works in a business that required them to travel to and from Ghana and he worked with many interesting people. On top of that, my former principal apparently lost a special award she got for her contributions to our school district when the superintendent happened to get an envelope containing my mother’s notes and he was just as livid. I got an apology from the school district along with other victims of Aia. They accepted that just to get it over with but I politely refused saying that it was too little too late.
I did get comments from my former classmates saying that I should have just let it all go but here’s the thing, I did get over it. I wanted nothing more than to just close that chapter in my life and move on but seeing her name in that email really triggered something in me and knowing that she was running around saying things which was opposite of what she really believed, I wanted her to feel broken the same way as I felt.
My mom was neutral about it. I don’t resent her because she did everything she possibly could to stop the bullying. I’m thankful for that because in some stories I’ve seen on reddit about people being bullied, their parents do absolutely nothing.
I’m in a much better place now. I moved out of state after I got married and I’m happy. Aia has attempted to contact me demanding I apologize for ruining her life but I just ignored her and blocked her. I wish I knew why she had so much hatred. I was never rude to her. I thought she was cool that she was from Africa. I love their culture and I thought it was awesome that she was a part of it. I also wish I could draw again because it was my only escape from a troubled life I had aside from the bullying. I’m just glad I was able to regain love for who I am as a person of Mexican descent and of indigenous background. Because she really made me feel like I was worthless for it.
That’s the story of how I ruined the life of my racist bully.With the plot twist was that she was black and I was Mexican. Sure, the words she said were probably just words but those words were very derogatory to me and many people of my ethnicity and it’s just as degrading as being called an n-word to a black person. And it also shows that even black people can be the worst racists. I’m not saying that all black people are racist because I’ve met amazing black people in my lifetime who truly believe in racial equality.
I wanted to keep this to myself but after seeing the terrible attacks on Asian Americans since the stupid pandemic happened, I noticed that it was sparking a big debate on who should be charged with hate crime. We’re still not there yet when it comes to truly being equal regardless of race, gender, religion and orientation but little-by-little we are becoming a little bit better. Not much but a little bit.
Sorry for the long post. I just want to get this off my chest and please don’t make the comments into a debate. I’m really not trying to start anything I just wanted to tell how I finally got my revenge.
EDIT: OK, I really meant it when I said I wasn’t trying to start anything when I posted this. But because some people are doubting this(which I’m not suprised) let me clarify a couple of things for you.
Why did I still have those notes? Because the bullying happened before social media became a big thing, it was the early 2000s. She saved those notes because I think she was planning on going to the district but by the time she was able to even consider it, elementary school ended and Aia went to a different junior high.
Where does she learn those words? When she first called me beaner she noticed my reaction. Bullies will tell you anything just to get a reaction out of you, the strongest reaction the better. I even told her not to call me that word because it was a slur but that didn’t stop her.
And why did it cause that district to apologize? Because it wouldn’t be the 1st time they were accused of covering up bullying based on race. They were already going through a lawsuit over a recent incident similar to mine and they just wanted to avoid any legal repercussions. But as I said I don’t care about that school anymore it can go to hell for all I care.
The Final Word
I find it outstanding that, even with revenge being achieved, it was not the ultimate goal. Exposing the racist bully, and putting to rest the lies of a life she was living, is the best revenge, if unintended.
Do you have a similar story to share?