Former first lady Michelle Obama's brother and his wife are suing a Milwaukee school that their children used to attend, alleging racial bias.
Craig and Kelly Robinson told “Good Morning America” on Tuesday that the University School of Milwaukee, an independent pre-kindergarten through secondary school in Wisconsin, repeatedly used "racial and ethnic stereotypes" in students' assignments.
"We heard what was going on in the classroom because of COVID, and there were repeated use of racial and ethnic stereotypes that were in actual assignments," said Craig Robinson, noting "the use of the word plantation," as well as "an insensitivity to socio-economic status" and "a disregard for the children who weren't physically in the classroom."
Robinson went on to say that they brought their concerns to the school, which "summarily dismissed our young children, retaliating against them because of the issues we brought up."
Kelly Robinson said, "Just as recent as 10 years ago, the University School of Milwaukee had in their fourth-grade curriculum that students reenacted the Underground Railroad, and students dressed up as slaves and ran through the school in the dark, and the teachers were actually the slave masters who captured these students."
She also said, "One of the other stories that we heard was about how the Black students seem to get more harsh punishments than their white counterparts."
Kelly Robinson said that although the school reportedly set up a system to report incidents of bias, she was told that the system wasn’t working when she attempted to file a report. The couple has since moved their children to a different school.
"We want to hold the University School of Milwaukee accountable not just to our two children who they retaliated against, but more importantly, there’s a whole community of people who are out there that we wouldn’t feel right if this happened moving forward," Craig Robinson said.
The University School of Milwaukee did not immediately respond to The Hill’s request for comment.