SALT LAKE CITY (ABC 4 News) - Seventh grader Jordan Henson is recovering from injuries that he and witnesses say came from a racist fueled attack. And in addition to the physical injuries, his family says there are also emotional scars from being called derogatory and racist names.
13-year-old Jordan Henson says a white 10th grader began harassing him on the school bus last week. "He started calling me names like chocolate." And when he got off the bus - in his Santaquin neighborhood - the older teen followed. "He got off on the wrong stop and followed me home." Jordan's friend Mason Call picks up the story from there. "He (the juvenile suspect) pushes him and says are you going to fight me? No, I'm not going to fight you." Mason says the older teen then spewed out more racist terms. "Calls him the N-word. Laughs at him because of the color of his skin."
It is as this point that Jordan and Mason say the harrassment turned to violent. Jordan turned around to stand up for himself and the suspect, according to Jordan and Mason "started beating him up." Jordan says, "I think I got kneed in the face. He knocked me to the ground." It happened quickly and Mason says he then picked up his wounded friend. "Helped him up. Went to my house. Grabbed a napkin to clean him up."
He had a black eye, and a bloody nose. And, his mother, Brenda Henson says, that was just the physical damage. "He was mentally beat up. Looked defeated. His face looked horrible." Brenda, says her bright and happy son, was emotionally gone. "It was devastating. It was outrageous. It was unreal."
Jordan didn't know the older teens name. But once they asked around and got it they turned to Facebook to find out more about him. Brenda says she found several photos that looked like the teen and that she described as very racist in nature. In fact, on one of the juvenile suspects page the words "white power" are under his information. Henson says while she thought it was just a school fight at first, she believes it is much more. "I would like this to be a hate crime. I would like everyone to know this boy targeted my son because of the color of his skin."
The Santaquin Police Department says because this case involves juveniles officers can't say much. However, they did tell us they have investigated and charges have been forwarded to the Utah County Attorney's office. In addition to calling police Brenda has contacted the U.S. Department of Justice, the Utah Attorney General's office and the ACLU.
We tried to contact the teen suspect and his family, but when we knocked on the door, no one answered.
