Johnson says public reaction since the story became known has been difficult to process, describing both support and criticism from community members.
“It’s been okay,” she said. “I noticed a lot of the reactions from locals have been pretty racist still. Like people saying that it was just bullying, it had nothing to do with race, ‘everyone’s bullied and it just happens.’”
She says the situation went beyond typical bullying.
“This was different. He was bullied because of his race, it wasn’t just typical bullying,” Johnson said. “There was typical bullying that had taken place, but this was actually targeted towards his race.”
From a local news page posted in February: