Teacher's assistant calls student 'N' word

HOUSTON

Local activists say Melinda Thomas used the "N" word against a student named Rodney Thomas last week at Sterling High. The student says he had run-ins with the assistant before, and felt she tried to provoke him with the slur.

"They got up and started getting in my face like she was about to, like she wanted to fight me, so by me bein' human I got mad," Thomas said.

"I'm thinkin' they thought that was something we were used to cause it does happen," said his mother, Diana Thomas. "But he wasn't raised like that, We don't use that word in my house, so that was kinda like a shock to him too."

The assistant and student are both African American, but the family says the assistant should not have used the slur.