#JusticeForAmari

Submission 8,753

Overview

#JusticeForAmari refers to a social media campaign that followed false accusations against three boys made by 12-year-old Immanuel Christian School attendee Amari Allen, whom she accused of holding her down and cutting off her dreadlocks. Several days after making the accusations, Amari revealed that they were false and that she cut off her dreadlocks herself.

Background

On September 26th, 2019, news channel WUSA 9 aired a news report featuring the story of Amari Allen a 12-year-old African-American attendee of Immanuel Christian School in Springfield, Virginia, who accused three white schoolmates of holding her down and cutting off her dreadlocks (video shown below).^[1]^[2]

One of them put my hands behind my back, one of them covered my mouth. [They called me] ugly and [said that] I shouldn’t have been born.

Notable Developments

On September 26th, the story received spread on Twitter, with multiple users writing posts in support of Amari. On September 26th, Twitter user @Banco_Mundo tweeted the news report, with the tweet gaining over 5,200 retweets and 6,400 likes in five days (tweet no longer available).^[7] On September 28th, 2019, Twitter user @ggqt3 made a post about the story, highlighting the fact that US Vice President Mike Pence's spouse Karen Pence teaches part-time at the school and spreading #JusticeForAmari hashtag.^[3] The tweet received over 340 retweets and 520 likes in three days (shown below, left). On September 28th, 2019, Twitter user @escapedmatrix made a post calling for staging a protest in Virginia unless the accused are punished, with the tweet gaining over 5,700 retweets adn 12,100 likes in three days (shown below, right).^[4]

On September 30th, WUSA 9 reported that on September 29th the girl told her family that her accusations were false, also revealing the truth to her school and the media on the following day.^[5] On September 30th, 2019, Immanuel Christian School released a statement which announced that the accusations made by Allen were false. On the same day, Allen's family issued an apology to the accused boys and their families, as well as those who showed support for Allen in the previous days.^[6]

To those young boys and their parents, we sincerely apologize for the pain and anxiety these allegations have caused. To the broader community, who rallied in such passionate support for our daughter, we apologize for betraying your trust. We understand there will be consequences, and we’re prepared to take responsibility for them. We know that it will take time to heal, and we hope and pray that the boys, their families, the school and the broader community will be able to forgive us in time.