High School Student Pleads Guilty to Hate Crime After Posting “Slave For Sale” Craigslist Listing of Black Classmate

An Illinois student was placed on probation after posting a Craigslist ad offering one of his Black Classmates as a “slave for sale.”

According to a statement provided by the DuPage County state attorney’s office, the unnamed male student at Naperville Central High School in the western Chicago suburb was given a two-year probationary sentence and must complete 100 hours of community service.

On September 1, the student pleaded guilty to two counts of felony hate crime and one count of disorderly behavior. As part of his probation, he will also have to attend counseling.

The incident occurred after the student took a picture of the Black student in November 2019. The student then posted the photo on Craigslist with a message: “Slave for sale (Naperville)” and a racist slur.

Neither student was identified in the statement, however reports from 2019 described the student as a 14-year-old white freshman at who took the photo of his classmate while they were sitting at the same lunch table.

In 2019, the mother of the Black student was interviewed by WGN-TV in Chicago. The two boys “used to be friends,” until the other student began harassing her son, making fun of his skin color and shouting things like “shut up, slave.”

DuPage County State Attorney Robert Berlin said in the press statement, “Hate crimes have no place in a civilized society and will not be tolerated, regardless of the accused’s age.”