A mother in west Alabama is grieving after her nine-year-old daughter, McKenzie Adams, died by suicide.
CBS 42 reported Monday that Jasmine Adams’ daughter was a fourth grader at U.S. Jones elementary school in Demopolis, which is close to the family’s home in Linden.
Following her tragic death on December 3, Adams reportedly advised CBS 42 that McKenzie told her teachers and her assistant principal a number of times that she was being bullied.
“She told me that this one particular child was writing her nasty notes in class. It was just things you wouldn’t think a nine-year-old should know. And my baby, to tell me some of the things they had said to her, I was like where are they learning this from,” Adams shared.
Adams also opined that race played into the bullying, as McKenzie rode to school with a white family friend every day.
“Part of it could have been because she rode to school with a white family,” Adams outlined. “And a lot of it was race, some of the student bullies would say to her ‘why you riding with white people, you’re black, you’re ugly. You should just die.’”
Alex Brasswell, the Demopolis City Schools attorney, advised that the case is under investigation.
“We are working fully with the Demopolis and Linden police department. They are doing a joint investigation of these allegations. We are cooperating fully and I can’t comment on any of the aspects of the investigation until they conclude it,” Brasswell said.
Adams said that she believes that the school system let her daughter and her family down. She also explained that McKenzie only attended U.S. Jones in Demopolis because she had previously been bullied at the local school in Linden.
“I just felt that our trust was in them that they would do the right thing,” Adams said, “And it feels like to me it wasn’t it wasn’t done.”
“That was my angel, you know. She was a straight ‘A’ student, very smart,” Adams emphasized.
Funeral services for McKenzie are scheduled for Saturday at 11:00 a.m. at U.S. Jones elementary school.
Watch the full report:
Sean Ross is a staff writer for Yellowhammer News. You can follow him on Twitter @sean_yhn
