The mother of a University of Alabama student who received national scorn for her racist rants on video said she agreed with the school’s decision to expel her daughter.
“This is not a reflection of how she was raised,” Jill Barbera, mother of Harley Barber, 19, told NJ.com on Thursday. “She’s just degrading herself and it breaks my heart. I hope someone can look at this and learn. I don’t want anyone to feel what I feel.”
Harley Barber was returning to her home state of New Jersey after social media posts surfaced showing her defiantly repeating a racist slur, according to reports. She said she hated black people in the clips (see below) and would continue using the slur on Martin Luther King Day because she was in the South.
Alabama President Stuart Bell called Barber’s remarks “racist and disturbing” in announcing that she was no longer enrolled. Her sorority, Alpha Phi, had already banned her. Barber apologized, calling herself an “idiot.”
Her mom said she agreed with the school’s decision. She added that she kicked her daughter out of the house in 2016 after several arguments, and Barber moved in with her grandmother.
“I love my kid,” Barbera told NJ.com. “I wish this never happened for everyone involved. I can’t apologize for her actions, and I won’t. But I’ll apologize for the pain it caused people.”
Here are the videos that caused the uproar.
Be warned ― they are unedited and downright ugly.