Sunny Hostin Claims Children Experienced Racism in Predominantly White Private Schools

Sunny Hostin, a co-host on ABC's "The View," stated on Monday that her children encountered racism while attending private schools with predominantly white student bodies. Hostin shared these experiences in the context of a discussion about Nikole Hannah-Jones, the founder of the 1619 Project, who recently reflected on her decision to send her daughter to under-resourced public schools.

Hostin expressed empathy for Hannah-Jones' situation but highlighted a different set of challenges faced by Black children in predominantly white private educational settings. "I made a very different decision. I sent my children to private schools, a predominantly White private school," Hostin said. "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."

She elaborated on the specific instances of distress her children experienced. "There was psychological trauma, there was racism that they experienced," Hostin stated. "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."

While acknowledging that her children did not face academic struggles, Hostin raised concerns about systemic issues impacting underfunded 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," she observed. "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 previously sent her children to the Ethical Culture Fieldston School. Neither ABC nor the school immediately responded to requests for comment from Fox News Digital.

In response, Hannah-Jones emphasized that the focus should be on families lacking the resources to access better educational opportunities. "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 told Fox News Digital. "As I write in the piece, there is no absolution to be had for any of us."