'People were bidding on me': Humiliated black boy, 10, cast as slave in mock auction at school



People-bidding made Nikko Burton 'a little mad’

'Masters looked inside slaves' mouths and felt legs'

School apologises and says it will not happen again

A 10-year-old black boy said he was humiliated by being a ‘slave’ in a mock class auction after pupils playing ‘masters’ looked inside his mouth and felt his body.

Nikko Burton’s teacher turned his American history lesson at Chapelfield Elementary School in Gahanna, Ohio, into a ‘racist’ mock slave auction, the boy's mother alleged.



She divided the class into ‘slaves’ and ‘masters’, telling the masters to feel the legs of students playing slaves to see if they were 'worth buying', he said.



Slave: Nikko Burton's teacher turned the 10-year-old's American history lesson at Chapelfield Elementary School in Gahanna, Ohio, into a mock slave auction

‘I ended up being a slave,’ Nikko told WBNS-10TV. ‘At first I didn't care, but after people were bidding on people it kind of made me a little mad.’

‘The masters got to touch people and do all sorts of stuff. They got to look in your mouth and feel your legs and stuff and see if you were strong.’

The school has apologised, but Nikko’s mother said he was humiliated by the lesson.

‘He felt degraded, he was hurt and the kids picked on him later,’ Aneka Burton said. ‘I feel like that was totally inappropriate - it was racist and it was degrading.

Humiliated son: Aneka Burton said: 'He felt degraded, he was hurt and the kids picked on him later. I feel like that was totally inappropriate - it was racist'

‘I don't know how long it's been going on, but I am just shocked nobody has ever complained about it.’

The class was randomly divided into ‘masters’ and ‘slaves’, with the only other black student being a master, he said.



School officials said they acted ‘promptly’ to speak with the boy’s mother after the concerns were brought to their attention.

Sorry: The school's principle Scott Schmidt apologised and officials said they acted 'promptly' to speak with her after the concerns were raised

'I will apologise for that,’ the school's principle Scott Schmidt told Ms Burton. ‘I will definitely make sure it doesn't happen again.’

A district spokesman said the mock auction was part of state curriculum and a one-time lesson, reported WBNS-10TV.



But the state’s board of education said although the law does call for fifth-graders to get exposure to ‘diversity education’, it mentions nothing about mock slave auctions.