Virginia 6th-Grader Admits She Lied about Classmates Cutting off Her Dreadlocks

Virginia 6th-grader who accused three of her classmates of cutting her dreadlocks admits that she lied about the whole ordeal.

Last week, a sixth-grader from a private Virginia school accused her classmates of forcibly cutting her hair. Now, she admits that she lied about the allegations and her family decided to create a statement to apologize to all those who were affected by what she's done.

A False Claim

The 12-year-old African-American student claimed that three white male students held her down while on the school playground, covered her mouth and called her derogatory terms before using scissors to chop off her hair.

However, she revealed to her grandparents that her claim wasn't true and that she made it all up.

A Statement of Apology

The girl's grandparents, her legal guardians, released a statement of apology on social media earlier this week to try and make up for all the harm caused by the ordeal.

“To those young boys and their parents, we sincerely apologize for the pain and anxiety these allegations have caused. To the administrators and families of Immanuel Christian School, we are sorry for the damage this incident has done to trust within the school family and the undue scorn it has brought to the school. To the broader community, who rallied in such passionate support for our daughter, we apologize for betraying your trust.”

Open to the Consequences

Understanding that the little girl's actions will come with consequences, they assure everyone that they're prepared to take responsibility for everything.

“We understand there will be consequences and we’re prepared to take responsibility for them. We know that it will take time to heal, and we hope and pray that the boys, their families, the school and the broader community will be able to forgive us in time.”

The School Principal's Statement

The school's principal, Stephen Danish, also issued a statement and sent an e-mail to all parents and community members explaining the incident.

“We can now confirm that the student who accused three of her classmates of assault has acknowledged that the allegations were false. We’re grateful to the Fairfax County Police Department for their diligent work to investigate these allegations. While we are relieved to hear the truth and bring the events of the past few days to a close, we also feel tremendous pain for the victims and the hurt on both sides of this conflict. We recognize that we now enter what will be a long season of healing.”

The Previous Investigation on the Matter

An investigation was launched last week after the girl's family contacted the department. While the fabricated hate crime was confirmed to be false, The Fairfax County NAACP cautioned everyone not to rush into judgment about the validity of allegations of racial violence.

While there are some hate crimes that are fabricated, there are also many that have been proven throughout the United States. More often than not, African-American students are bullied by their peers, and many of them result in speaking up for themselves.

The Presence of Hate Crimes in Schools

In a New York high school, a student named N'Senga Kinzonzi was left in tears after speaking out about a racist Snapchat post that her classmates posted about her.

On October 21, 2018, she was reaching into her backpack for a book when another classmate took a photo of her. The student captioned the photo calling her derogatory words, and calling for her to be "lynched."

Speaking Up Against Bullying

When N'Senga saw the post, she was "shocked, disappointed, saddened, scared, and then angry."

“It saddened me that that’s what people thought when they see me, so I decided to take an educational approach and give the boy a background on the “n” word and the word lynching.”

Finding the Solution to a Constant Problem

The family's representative, Civil Rights attorney Michael Sussman, highlights the importance of creating a resolution to deal with the "tremendous amount of prejudice on many levels" that African-Americans experience in the country.

"As painful as it is, we have to demand resolutions because we keep coming back to the same place."