Standing with Taylissa and Jayla: Politicians and others show support for bullied Yerington teens

Taylissa Marriott and Jayla Tolliver went to school on Monday.

It was just a day after their story became front page news in the RGJ. The sisters and their parents told of the racist bullying the girls were experiencing at Yerington High School.

The school of 400 students is 90 minutes from Reno in Lyon County. Taylissa and Jayla are two of fewer than 10 black students at the high school.

On Sunday, Congressman Ruben Kihuen, D-Nev., called the family and offered support and assistance.

Other politicians used social media to show support, including Senate Majority Leader Aaron Ford, who took to twitter to write, "I stand with Taylissa and Jayla."

The girls, both 14, say they have been the victims of repeated racial bullying. They say they have been called racial slurs and students have tried to block doorways.

They said they became fearful after an upperclassman posted on social media, "...we about going (racial slur) hunting."

They said police and school officials have refused to help. Yerington Police Chief Darren Wagner admitted that his office destroyed the family's statements when they tried to file a police report.

Their mother, Nancy Marriott-Tolliver, said the girls were afraid of the backlash at school on Monday.

“Things went OK,” she said. “A few students made gestures and said some things.”

She said her daughters were told that the school had received threats after their story was published.

On Monday, a school counselor and vice principal asked the girls if they needed anything or how they could help.

"I know how hard it was for those girls to share that story and go back to school," said Lonnie Feemster, vice president of the NAACP in Nevada, Utah and Idaho and former president of the local chapter.

"But I think of Rosa Parks," Feemster said of the civil rights activist who in 1955 refused to surrender her bus seat to a white passenger in Montgomery, Alabama.

The Nevada Department of Education said it reached out to the family and to the school to offer support.

"I feel like these things have to be addressed and discussed," said Christina McGill from the Office for a Safe & Respectful Learning Environment at the Nevada Department of Education.

She said the Washoe County School District and the ACLU also reached out to Yerington High School with the offer to help to bring training to staff and students.

McGill said she thought the worst thing that could happen was for everyone to stay angry and not try to make things better using this story as a way to start a discussion.