Student attacked because he is white

Sharlonda L. Waterhouse:

In a black shirt, James Tokarski, a quiet, self-professed skater boy, sits on his sofa with nowhere to go.

Terrified to return to his new school in Gary, Tokarski said he fends off nightmares and is still healing from black eyes and bruises to his back.

The 14-year-old boy claims he enrolled at Bailly Middle School Feb. 3 and has been harassed ever since.

Since then, according to the Tokarski family, James has been beaten up by groups of kids on three occasions.

He says it’s because he’s white. School officials aren’t confirming that.

“They called me 'whitey,’ 'white trash,’ 'trailer park trash’ and 'hillbilly’ while they were hitting me,” James Tokarski said. The boy said he simply curled into a fetal position on the ground while he was punched with fists and kicked all over.

Another student confirmed he recently saw James “get hit in the eye by the pop machine.” “He was talking mess and couldn’t back it up,” the student said. That eighth-grader claimed James was beat up three times because he has a reputation of not fighting back and is a “softie.”

James said he didn’t want to fight back and make the attacks worse. He said he did not provoke the students.

Barbara Tokarski, James’ mom, said on her son’s second day at school — Feb. 6 — he was hit in the face in the gym after refusing to join a gang.

Then, on Feb. 15, according to Barbara and James, a group of kids assaulted him in a school hallway as he waited to enter his social studies class. He says he was knocked unconscious and had to be pulled into a classroom by a teacher.

On Feb. 22, James said he was attacked again while on the playground and also was knocked unconscious.

He said he had to be carried into the school by a group of girls.

The family has filed two police reports and has sought treatment for swellings and discoloration to the left side of James’ face at St. Mary’s Medical Center in Hobart.

The official medical report listed injuries as blunt head trauma, facial contusions and acute sinusitis.

“He’s still in pain,” the mother said. “His neck and back are really hurting a lot.”

“I was lying on the sofa bawling. I didn’t want to go back to school,” James said.

He had been a student in Portage until they learned he was using his grandmother’s address to go to that school. Barbara Tokarski said Portage officials demanded tuition, which they couldn’t afford. So, she put him in Bailly, which is within walking distance.

Barbara Tokarski said she is refusing to send her son back to Bailly because school officials, can’t keep him safe.

The consistent bullying whether racially motivated or not, flies in the face of the district’s new anti-bullying policy.

Gary Schools Public Information Specialist Charmella Greer said she spoke with Bailly Assistant Principal Lloyd Booth about the assaults. “They did happen. I gathered incident reports and confirmed two. The third — we don’t know if that happened on school grounds. There were at least two (attackers) in each encounter. We have not confirmed if these were racially motivated incidents,” Greer said.

“We have never had a history of any hate crimes or not accepting any students of other races,” she said.

One parent of a white child at the school said it is typical for the seven or eight minority students there to be called “whitey” or “white boy.”

Mom Says Race Is Factor In Son's Fights At School