Someone is making death threats against a 10-year-old girl at her school in Framingham, Mass.
The girl is a fifth grader at Hemenway Elementary and the two notes directed at her have now drawn the attention of Framingham Police.
It was Friday morning when the Muslim youngster went to her classroom cubby and found a note calling her a “terrorist.”
“She was visibly upset, she was crying,” her uncle Jamaal Siddiqui said. “That’s not what Islam teaches, and that’s not what Muslims are.”
Her uncle says the principal visited each classroom urging the culprit to come forward with an apology and sent an email to parents condemning the incident.
“Hate is not brought from birth, it is embedded into a human being either by parents or their surroundings,” Siddiqui said.
On Tuesday morning, there was a second note, this time saying “I will kill you.”
“Just the thought of that makes me feel sick to my stomach,” Siddiqui said.
The principal quickly brought the superintendent and police onboard, but despite their safety concerns, the little girl’s family has not pulled her out of class.
“If we take her out of school it’s just going to show that we can’t stand up to the situation,” Siddiqui said.
The principal says many classmates have rallied around the student and some disgusted parents did the same.
“It’s absolutely devastating and I don’t want this to happen in my child’s school at all,” one parent said.
“It’s nuts basically,” another parent said. “Hard to believe this thing could happen.”
So far, school officials and police have not been able to ID the handwriting or trace the notebook paper.
Her family has urged the young victim to smile through it and not become bitter, but know that’s a tall order for a 10-year-old.
“It’s sad, it’s sad that kids at such a young age have to deal with this,” Siddiqui said.
The girl’s parents will meet with school officials and police Wednesday to discuss a safety plan going forward.
The FBI announced Tuesday that hate crimes in this country are up 17 percent this year.
