Sunny Hostin Says Her Kids Faced Racism and Bullying at Private Schools

By Sandra Rhodes (/journals/sandra-rhodes)

Sunny Hostin revealed to viewers "The View" that her children faced racism while attending "predominantly White" private schools.

Hostin, a co-host of the show, brought up the topic Monday while talking with 1619 Project founder and The New York Times Magazine reporter Nikole Hannah-Jones.

Hannah-Jones recently admitted she regretted some of her decision to send her daughter to predominantly Black, high-poverty public schools in Brooklyn. She said she did so in an effort to challenge educational inequality.

Hostin pointed out there were additional problems with sending Black children to "predominantly White" private schools.

"I think that this is a decision broadly that all parents make when it comes to educating their kids, but ... this is a very difficult decision for Black parents, in particular, because I made a very different decision," Hostin said. "I sent my children to private schools, a predominantly White private school. So, while they didn't suffer academically, they excelled, but it was a well-funded school, a private school, well-resourced school, they suffered a different type of pain."

"There was psychological trauma, there was racism that they experienced," she added. "They were bullied. There was, you know, trauma around their identity. My daughter wears a big afro, kids were trying to stick pencils in her hair. Boys were calling her butter face, meaning she looked good, but her face, and she is a beautiful girl."

Hostin expressed concerns about the "systemic problem" affecting predominantly non-White school districts.

"So I think the real question here is, nationally, schools in predominantly non-White districts receive $23 billion less in annual funding than their White counterparts. Underfunded schools versus well-funded schools. So public schools are funded from property taxes. So we need to look at the systemic problem that's happening in this country around public education," Hostin said.

In a comment to Fox News Digital, Hannah-Jones said the focus should remain on families who lack the resources to pursue better educational options for their children.

"I hope people concerned about the choice my husband and I made for our daughter will have equal or more outrage for the thousands of Black children whose parents don’t have the resources to send them to better schools," she said. "As I write in the piece, there is no absolution to be had for any of us."