I remember clearly when I was slapped in the mouth twice by a teacher at Christian Fellowship Academy in #WarnerRobins in 2000/2001.

Even if I can remember clearly that I had insulted another student and I was wrong for that, the teacher did not have the right to slap me in the mouth. This is what I think about when I see the teacher’s role in the #AssaultAtSpringValleyHigh.

I didn’t tell my mother about this until around 2013, and this is my first time talking about it in public.

Intimidation, between teachers and students, between classmates in different grades, between classmates in the same class, among admin, was rife at CFA from 1999-2005. Paddling was the standard corporal punishment, and it was frequent for me. I don’t think I turned out as I am today because of that experience. I turned out as I am today despite, and maybe in spite of, my time at CFA, and despite the intimidation and bullying in the Houston County public school system that I previously attended.

I still haven’t faced that time because of the trauma and ignorance that came from teachers and admin in both periods. It was worse that this was a predominantly-Black and Black-ran private school inside the predominantly-Black Christian Fellowship Church.

That didn’t protect me from intimidation, violent punishments and the like from teachers and administration, nor did it protect us from student violence and intimidation against each other. Incidents like being slapped in the mouth, admin and teacher intimidation, paddling as a ritualistic, violent punishment, student bullying, gutter homophobia. I haven’t exorcised those experiences at CFA, Rumble Middle, Miller and Russell Elementary from my mind.

I don’t know how to talk about my childhood, because that’s what I remember most. The pain that we traded with each other. And that’s what I see in that #SpringValleyHigh assault video: Organized Pain from above. #Shout.