Student sues OCHS after alleging racial harassment
Oaks Christian High School, a private institution in the Westlake Village area, is being sued by a Black student who is alleging intense racial harassment and claiming that staff members failed to intervene.
The lawsuit, filed on Oct. 16, states that during the students’ sophomore year, 2022-2023, his peers downloaded “Pocket Whip,” an app that plays the sound of a cracking whip. This app was used to “humiliate” and “degrade” black students on campus, and although many students knew about “Pocket Whip,” teachers failed to step in.
The plaintiff, anonymously named “John Doe” in the lawsuit, also claims that students used African American stereotypes to belittle him. One of these instances included students hanging fried chicken above Doe, “as if he were an animal begging for food,” and that this was often paired with phrases like “I know you people like this.” The lawsuit reports that other black students had similar experiences with being bullied based on racial stereotypes.
Doe claims that in his junior year, 2023-2024, his peers held a mock slave auction in the school’s cafeteria. According to Doe, they debated his “worth” by asking questions about his height and physical capabilities to “determine a selling price.” When Doe refused to answer, they started making baseless assumptions. Allegedly, as one student, who was “acting like an auctioneer,” announced prices, others pulled out credit cards and money and yelled out prices for which they would buy him.
Along with the accusations of racial harassment and bullying, Doe also reports that his peers told him a specific date and time in which he would be lynched.
Over a year before these actions supposedly took place, on June 4, 2020, a petition was created titled “Black Oaks Christian Alumni and Allies Against Racism” and the comment section included “numerous alumni sharing experiences of racism and discrimination from both faculty and non-Black students,” the lawsuit said.
In response, Rob Black, head of school, on June 11 2020, shared his plans for change when it came to supporting students of color. “Oaks Christian School is committed to enhancing a more robust anti-harassment and anti- discrimination policy that adds additional focus on matters of intolerance,” Black said. Although, according to the plaintiff, despite this statement, “no meaningful actions were taken.”
Doe claims that staff members were also aware of how Doe would likely be treated when the slavery unit of Doe’s U.S. history class came up in the school year, however, instead of talking to the offenders, vice principal Bryndyn Crutcher allegedly told the plaintiff to “brace for it,” when referring to the racist taunts that would come.
According to the lawsuit, Doe and his family are seeking unspecified damages. “Oaks Christian School has, in practice, condoned and encouraged the very despicable behavior it purports to reject,” the lawsuit said.
