KANSAS CITY, MO – Park Hill High School is under fire as details surface about a Black senior student suspended for standing up against a white kid who called him a “dirty nigger” and is accused of serial sexual assault.
Colby Barker, a respected senior and football player at Park Hill, is well-known for his leadership qualities and resilience. But now, that very sense of duty has led to his suspension—a punishment many see as blatantly racist and corrupt.
The story begins with “Kat” (a pseudonym to maintain her safety and privacy), a girl student and close friend of Colby’s, who shared with him the torment she and other girls had suffered at the hands of a white male student. This harassment had become so unbearable that Kat was forced to leave Park Hill district and be homeschooled. “It got so bad that I couldn’t take it anymore,” Kat told him. “I had to leave. But when I came back this year, I thought maybe things would be different.”
Kat’s hope was short-lived. The sexual violence resumed almost immediately upon her return to Park Hill High School, but this time, she had Colby in her corner. “We became real close,” Colby shared. “We talked about everything, and she was telling me how this kid from before wouldn’t leave her and other girls alone, even though she had left the school. I couldn’t just stand by and let that continue.”
One girl student, who requested to remain anonymous, told The Defender that the white male repeatedly sexually harassed her and “multiple of my friends…This is making not only mine, but every other girl who’s gone through anything with him, absolutely unsafe and uncomfortable. I don’t want to wear the clothes I love, I can’t be myself, because of this creep.”
Colby took the issue to the administration, who he says did nothing about it. He warned them that if they did not take action, he would be forced to take it into his own hands. When the administration did nothing, he followed through and confronted the alleged sexual predator, believing that a firm verbal warning would suffice.
“I went up to him, you know, very friendly,” Colby recounted. “I told him, just stay away from her. That’s it.” But instead of retreating, the predator student escalated the situation hurling a violent hate speech at Colby in front of their classmates. “He called me an ‘ugly dirty nigger,’” Colby said, his voice steady but his anger evident. “I’m just gonna say the word because people need to know what he said. You can’t just run around saying that word.”
Kat’s brother (who has requested to remain unnamed for fear of retaliation), reached out to The Defender and told us he was a witness to both the hate crime and the threat of sexual assault towards his sister.
For Barker, as with other Black students, being called a “nigger” wasn’t just an insult—it was a vicious attack on his identity and his history. “I think about our ancestors,” he explained. “Some people don’t take what their ancestors went through deeply, but I take that very deeply. It’s not just a word—it’s violence.”
The situation worsened when the white student made a chilling threat, telling Colby he would “have his way” with Kat if given the chance. “He said, ‘I want to take Kat, or if I catch Kat going to the bathroom, I’ll make sure I have my way with her,’” Colby recalled. “To me, it was very clear that he was threatening to rape her. That’s how I took it.”
Enraged and determined to protect his friend, Colby confronted the white student. “It was the heat of the moment,” he said. “After he called me a nigger and made the rape threat, I was fuming. I pinned him against the wall, had him there for about 20 seconds.” It was a brief but intense encounter that ended when a fellow football player, a teammate of Colby’s, intervened. “He picked me up and took me away from him, saying, ‘You have a game tomorrow. What are you doing?’ And I love him for that, so I stopped.”
Despite Colby’s efforts to de-escalate the situation, the administration’s response was swift and severe – but not for the student engaged in sexual and racist violence.
Colby is currently suspended for seven days, while the white student thus far, has received nothing. In a phone conversation with The Defender, the Park Hill School District said they are actively investigating the situation but cannot discuss ongoing disciplinary decisions due to legal reasons.
The punishment has already deeply impacted Colby, causing him to miss senior night, in particular, which he says has been a heartbreaking consequence. For Colby, who is actively homeless and has navigated most of his life on his own, senior night was more than just a school event.
“I was going to walk by myself, and to me, that would have been a show of strength, of independence,” he shared. “Even though I’ve gone through most of my life by myself, I still stand tall and proud. But they took that away from me.”
Colby’s suspension has sparked outrage across the district, leading to the emergence of multiple petitions calling for Colby’s reinstatement, the expulsion of the white student, and the firing of the involved administrators.
The petitions have already garnered over 800 signatures in just the first 72 hours. What’s more, dozens of girl students have come forward on the petition, documenting their own experiences of sexual assault and harassment at the hands of the same white student.
“I’ve been assaulted by [the white student]. He gets away with it and it isn’t okay, the trauma he has caused for me and other students. He has sexually assaulted me personally and I was the one who got in trouble,” one student wrote.
“Nicholas has harassed me in the past begging me for nudes and calling me slurs in the past year. I want him gone and out of my life,” wrote another.
Even more heart wrenching, another student wrote “I care for what’s right and this student is definitely not it. He sexually harassed many girls who are finally happy and feeling a weight come off their shoulders because someone decided to speak up. Someone became their voice and he got in trouble for doing so. [The white student] is still in school and not getting what he deserves and that will cause harm to many girls and the African American students of our school,” she testified on the petition.
“The worst part about it is, the school is literally punishing me for speaking out against racism and sexual assault,” Colby said, his frustration palpable. “I shouldn’t be getting punished for this. Everyone has to step up and play their part to stop these kinds of things. And now I’m taking all the consequences for stepping up.”
The suspension has cast a shadow over Colby’s final year of high school, and he fears the administration may take even more drastic actions against him. “They told me there is a pending investigation for the white kid, but based on history, I don’t think he is going to get anything. They’re not going to do anything,” he said, his voice heavy with resignation. “I’m honestly scared that if I keep raising my voice, they could try and stop me from graduating.”
I spoke directly with Colby this morning, who said various administrators had reached out to him this morning after the story had already become public. He wondered, why did they “treat me like trash” last week and suspend me, but now, “when they see me going public about the situation, now they are calling me and all urgent and concerned.”
Colby’s role as a leader and role model at the school makes his suspension all the more shocking. “I’ve never been in trouble the entire time I’ve gone to this school,” he said. “I’m a senior now, I’ve never been in trouble, all my teachers and everyone at the school knows me and knows I’m never in trouble for anything. I’ve been a role model and I’m on the football team and everyone knows how much I love football. So everyone was surprised, like, wow. Colby got suspended. We’ve never seen this before.”
The administration’s response to Colby’s actions—and their apparent reluctance to address the harasser’s behavior—reflects a broader pattern of normalized racial violence in the district. “Some school officials are against me just because of the color of my skin and the way I speak,” Colby said.
“I’ve tried everything. I’m just worried I don’t have money for a lawyer. My rights are being violated. I’ve just tried to make a change to Park Hill, and you know, it’s sad, it’s gonna be hard, but it seems like everyone in the administration is against me and the victims.”
As Colby faces an uncertain future, he remains committed to his principles, even as the weight of the consequences continues to bear down on him. “I believe in being a leader, and so honestly, I think this is just part of me trying to be a leader,” he said. “But I didn’t realize the weight and gravity of the consequences of being a leader. I was crying when I got suspended because I could not believe they threw me out like trash.”
Colby’s story is a powerful indictment of the way Park Hill School District handles issues of racism and sexual violence. It’s a story of a young Black man who dared to stand up for what’s right, only to be punished for his bravery. And it’s a story that demands accountability from those in power—accountability that, so far, has been sorely lacking.
This is a developing story.
