The local NAACP meeting in Lubbock opened with a prayer and quickly turned into what can only be described as a greatest-hits album of racial abuse in local schools. Parents and grandparents recounted Black students being called the n-word, falsely accused of crimes, interrogated by police without parents present, and sent to alternative schools for weeks over things like imaginary vapes and unproven rumors. Administrators, in many cases, either shrugged or quietly looked the other way.
Just last year, there was at least the illusion of accountability. Federal civil rights investigators were probing Lubbock-area school districts after racist incidents made national news. A resolution was supposedly coming. Then the 2024 election happened, the Trump administration shut down regional civil rights offices—including the one handling Lubbock—and the investigator working these cases was fired. Emails bounced. Investigations stalled. Accountability vanished like rain on the Caprock.
Since then, parents say things have gotten worse, not better. Racial slurs are more openly used, Black teachers fear speaking up, and families increasingly stop reporting incidents because, well, what’s the point? The Department of Education has shifted its priorities elsewhere, dismissing thousands of civil rights complaints nationwide while requiring meaningful changes in only a fraction of cases compared to last year.
Some white parents have noticed the shift too, describing kids freely using slurs in hallways and on buses with little consequence. School districts point to policies, training, and “positive environments,” while parents describe children leaving the district—or the state entirely—for the sake of their mental health. In nearby Slaton, a mural depicting Black men picking cotton still stands untouched, years after officials promised it would be addressed. Apparently, some things are just part of the décor now.
When the watchdog gets fired and the fences come down, is it really shocking that the wolves feel more comfortable roaming the halls?
https://www.texastribune.org/2025/12/23/lubbock-racism-schools-investigations-trump/