SPRINGFIELD, Virginia, October 2, 2019 (LifeSiteNews) – An alleged racist attack on a 12-year-old girl at the Christian private school where Second Lady Karen Pence teaches never happened, the accuser has admitted following national attention over the story.
Last week, reports surfaced of an alleged incident at Immanuel Christian School in Springfield, Virginia, in which three white sixth-grade boys allegedly pinned down a black female classmate and cut her hair.
“They said my hair was nappy and I was ugly,” accuser Amari Allen told NBC, adding that the boys had been bullying her all year. Her family reported it to the police, and Immanuel Christian said it was “deeply disturbed by the allegations.”
However, NBC Washington reports that security camera footage conflicted with her story, and Allen eventually admitted she had made up the incident and cut her own hair (though she still maintains she has been bullied in the past).
On Tuesday, CBS affiliate WUSA published statements by both the family and the school.
“While we are relieved to hear the truth and bring the events of the past few days to a close, we also feel tremendous pain for the victims and the hurt on both sides of this conflict,” Immanuel Christian head Stephen Danish said. “We will also continue teaching what we’ve taught for more than 40 years: that the love of God is for all people, and as His children we should demonstrate that love equally to all people regardless of their background, what they believe, or how they behave.”
The Allen family apologized to the boys and their families “for the pain and anxiety these allegations have caused,” and to the broader school community “for the damage this incident has done to trust within the school family and the undue scorn it has brought to the school.”
“We understand there will be consequences, and we’re prepared to take responsibility for them,” they continued. “We know that it will take time to heal, and we hope and pray that the boys, their families, the school and the broader community will be able to forgive us in time.”
NBC Washington adds that family attorney Michael Daniels said the family is “starting to look at a path forward, and that involves a lot of counseling and therapy and open discussion.”
One of the reasons the allegation gained national attention is that Karen Pence, wife of Vice President Mike Pence, teaches art part-time at Immanuel Christian (a connection left-wing activists have previously attacked over the school’s expectation that employees adhere to Biblical sexual morals, which preclude homosexuality and transgenderism).
Headlines from NBC News, The Week, Newsweek, LGBTQ Nation, Pink News, and others emphasized Mrs. Pence’s connection to the school, while media figures such as CNN political analyst Bakari Sellers demanded she “answer questions” about the alleged incident. Sellers later acknowledged the story was fake, but maintained that the Second Lady still “has a ton of questions to answer” about the school.
Read all LifeSiteNews coverage of hate crime hoaxes here.