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The Big Lies › 2019 › File PF-0162
Debunked

Black Virginia Girl Says White Classmates Cut Her Dreadlocks; She Recants

National outlets reported a 12-year-old's account that three white boys held her down and cut her dreadlocks at a Christian school in Virginia where Karen Pence taught.

First reported Sep 27, 2019 · The New York Times, The Washington Post, CNN, ABC News
Screenshot of the original report as published
Screenshot of the report as published: nytimes.com (archived copy, Wayback Machine). Tap to open the source.
Who it helped: Democrats

Fed a racial-attack narrative at the school where the vice president's wife taught.

What was reported

National outlets reported a 12-year-old's account that three white boys held her down and cut her dreadlocks at a Christian school in Virginia where Karen Pence taught.

What actually happened

Three days later the girl admitted the attack never happened and her family apologized. The NYT's follow-up ran under 'Virginia Girl Recants Story of Boys Cutting Off Her Dreadlocks,' dropping the racial framing of its first headline.

The proof

The family's public apology and the school's statement, reported by the NYT on Sept. 30, 2019.

The receipt. Copy this and paste it anywhere:

Black Virginia Girl Says White Classmates Cut Her Dreadlocks; She Recants — Debunked. The family's public apology and the school's statement, reported by the NYT on Sept. 30, 2019. Full file: https://www.thepropagandafiles.com/case/amari-allen-dreadlocks-hoax/

Original reporting

Corrections, findings & records

Archived copies

Stories get edited after publication. These open the Internet Archive's earliest saved copy of each original.

None listed.

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