I was accused of grabbing a child and removed from a play, my family were not notified in any formal capacity.

I’m 17F and was recently in a school play where I had a speaking role, which held a key part of the story. On opening night, during dinner, I was joking around with a middle school student. Things were lighthearted until I told him jokingly to leave me alone. In the nicest way possible. He responded by saying, “The things I want to say to you are racist, so I can’t say them.” I was caught off guard and didn’t respond perfectly, but I did call it out. I told him, “You put it in the air that you wanted to joke about my skin color, so say what you want to say. Why would you even think that’s appropriate?” He started crying, and I immediately knew it was going to become a bigger issue.

Later, I found the boy and apologized. I calmly explained that what he said was inappropriate and not okay to say to anyone. I thought things were resolved, but then the director and choreographer pulled me aside. I explained the situation and became emotional because it hurt. I wasn’t expecting that type of behavior from the boy. I had started crying a bit in front of my director, especially since I thought I had a close and respectful relationship with the director. She barely made eye contact and brushed me off. Recently, she’s been distant and even ignores me when I try to speak to her.

Then she asked if I had grabbed a little girl (elementary schooler). I was shocked. I said, “What? When?” She replied, “Oh, you look confused don’t worry about it,” and walked away. The next morning, I got a long message saying I had a great performance, but I was being removed from the show because they “confirmed” I grabbed the little girl’s arm, violating their non-violence policy. I accepted their decision, as there wasn’t anything I could say or do. I truly don’t remember ever doing that. I have no memory of touching her at all, and I remember having a conversation from a week ago and months ago.

The director said we will speak on Monday and we did not speak at all. We hadn’t spoken today at all. No one has followed up. Not even the school counselors or principal. My parents are concerned why weren’t they contacted if I supposedly grabbed a child? Why weren’t counselors involved? If I really had done what they say, wouldn’t there be some kind of formal discipline or investigation?

I feel like I was pushed out of the show on purpose. The director has favorites, and I’ve heard students and from the director say I only got the role because of my accent. Now that I’ve lost my accent, it feels like they’ve lost interest in me. I’m left confused, hurt, and unsure of what I did wrong?

My family is going to contact them, because again they weren’t made aware of the situation in any formal capacity. I let them know the situation about the situation and where waiting for me to tell them what the teacher has said, which is nothing. Especially since I got removed from the show and accused me of “grabbing” a child.

What should I do? The show has already finished, but people have to view me differently and has already affected one of my friendships.