Schoolkids using Trump’s words to bully classmates: report

Dozens of schoolyard bullying incidents since Election Day have seen schoolchildren reference or quote President Trump in an effort to harass a classmate, according to a new report.

BuzzFeed News on Tuesday reported that it confirmed 54 cases across 26 states, including a number of incidents in which students were harassed with references to Trump’s proposed border wall.

In one reported incident, a third grader chased a Latina student around the classroom yelling “build the wall!” In another, an eighth grader said to a black classmate: “Now that Trump won, you’re going to have to go back to Africa, where you belong.”

{mosads}Other incidents in the report include references to deportation and instances of white students chanting Trump’s name at minorities.

Students in a Louisiana high school reportedly told one Latino student to “go back home” and chanted “build a wall” after he said he voted for Clinton.

“He didn’t want to go back to school,” the student’s mother told BuzzFeed. “He said he didn’t feel safe.”

Educators interviewed by BuzzFeed News said they believed students were repeating the language and phrases they heard the president use or heard used at his rallies.

Many educators responded quickly to the incidents by releasing statements or holding assemblies, but those actions also drew criticism from some parents for being too heavy-handed, the report said.

Trump drew heavy backlash throughout his campaign for his rhetoric about Latinos, Muslims and other minority groups, as well as his proposals to build a wall on the U.S.-Mexico border and enact a temporary ban on immigration by people from certain Muslim-majority countries. 

Trump told the Washington Post last year, “I am not a racist, in fact, I am the least racist person that you’ve ever encountered.”