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Shanice

Shanice was a seventeen-year-old Black American high-school senior and the longest-serving teenage volunteer at the West Baltimore Recreation Center in summer 2014. During three years at the center, she developed substantial control over the volunteer group’s social hierarchy and handled arts-and-crafts programming. She psychologically abused Keisha Clark for approximately two years, helped sustain the exclusion of Marcus “MJ” Henderson Jr., and assaulted MJ when he could not wake and respond quickly. The center initially suspended her and later fired her. Devon Morgan ended their relationship after the assault, and Shanice retaliated against him on Facebook.

Recreation-Center Volunteering

Shanice had volunteered for three years by summer 2014, longer than any other current teenage volunteer. She treated seniority as authority over both programming and social belonging. Volunteers who accepted her decisions remained inside the group; people who challenged or displeased her were criticized, isolated, or pushed out. Emma stopped volunteering after sustained criticism, Jordan was socially frozen out, and Shanice sabotaged Destiny’s work until she left.

Her tone shifted according to the amount of resistance she encountered. She could begin friendly, become patronizing, and turn cold when the other person continued to disagree. She often described exclusion as ordinary resource management. Children who were easy for the volunteers to engage received attention, while those who needed adaptation or patience were treated as demands the center could not meet.

Personality and Communication

Shanice was socially confident, controlling, and skilled at making cruelty sound practical. Her confidence appeared in her assessing gaze, firm grip, and expectation that new volunteers would accept the hierarchy she had already built. She expected loyalty from people close to her and treated disagreement as betrayal.

When Kelsey Morrison questioned MJ’s isolation, Shanice answered, “Look, new girl, MJ’s got his thing. He gets tired, he sleeps. We leave him alone. That’s just how it works here.” She mocked the idea of offering him more direct care with, “What you want us to do, tuck him in and sing him a lullaby?” During a staff confrontation, she argued, “We work with the resources we have. We can’t give special treatment to one kid just because he’s got issues.”

After the assault, Shanice continued using the same rationalizing pattern. She said she had only tried to wake MJ, minimized the force she used, and insisted, “He’s not even hurt that bad.”

Physical Characteristics

In summer 2014, Shanice was tall and light-skinned. She wore intricate braids gathered into a high ponytail.

Relationship with Keisha Clark

Main article: Shanice and Keisha Clark

Shanice subjected Keisha to approximately two years of psychological abuse under the cover of friendship. Keisha entered the center at fourteen as an eager volunteer. By sixteen, she had become withdrawn and accustomed to checking Shanice’s reaction before expressing an opinion, wearing something noticeable, or laughing freely.

Shanice called Keisha stupid over small mistakes and attacked her appearance whenever she tried to look nice. She told her that braids made her face look fat, criticized her makeup, and said fitted clothes made her look desperate. When Keisha picked at her thumbnail, Shanice slapped her hand and called the habit trashy.

The control extended beyond the recreation center. Shanice texted Keisha at midnight, called during school, and arrived without warning when she wanted Keisha to manage a crisis. The demands resembled the availability expected of an intimate partner, although their relationship was not romantic. Keisha watched Shanice drive other teenagers away and remained quiet partly because she knew what happened to people who challenged her.

Keisha blocked Shanice after the assault on MJ. She later offered to correct Shanice’s Facebook account of Devon publicly and began reclaiming colors, braids, jewelry, laughter, and opinions that she had suppressed. After Keisha and Marcus Washington III became involved, Shanice resurfaced online and attacked Keisha through Facebook. Marcus supported Keisha and refused to let the renewed attack control their relationship.

Treatment and Assault of Marcus Henderson

Main article: Summer 2014 MJ Assault Crisis

Shanice helped sustain months of disability-based exclusion at the recreation center. She treated MJ’s profound fatigue as a reason not to invite him into activities, resisted adaptations, and told his friends to mind their own business. Volunteers spoke about him within his hearing and repeatedly reduced him to “the kid who sleeps.”

On a Wednesday during Kelsey’s second week at the center, Kelsey and MJ’s four closest friends found Shanice gripping the eleven-year-old by both shoulders and shaking him. MJ’s head was lolling, and he could not wake or form words quickly enough for her. The shaking left four finger-mark bruises and caused headache and dizziness. MJ cried, apologized, and insisted that he had not meant to sleep all day.

Kelsey stopped Shanice, protected MJ, and sent for the center’s director, Ms. Patricia Davis. MJ’s friends stayed with him while Ms. Patricia photographed the bruises and called his aunt Sharon Henderson. Later, MJ collapsed into Sharon’s arms, continued apologizing, slept poorly, and vomited twice from anxiety.

The center suspended Shanice pending investigation. Her parents attended the disciplinary meeting and argued that the assault had been a misunderstanding. They left after seeing the photographs. Approximately six weeks later, Shanice had been fired and no longer volunteered at the center.

Relationship with Devon Morgan

Main article: Devon Morgan and Shanice

Shanice and Devon hooked up at a party in approximately May 2014. She began telling others they were together, and Devon went along with it. They dated for about three months.

Shanice criticized Devon as lazy, unmotivated, and unwilling to live up to his potential, using language already directed at him by his parents. She presented those attacks as concern from a girlfriend and expected him to reinforce her authority at the center. Devon’s untreated depression and anxiety made passive compliance easier than resistance, but did not excuse his part in MJ’s exclusion.

Devon was not present in the room during the assault. He later saw photographs of MJ’s bruises, received Shanice’s messages, and confronted the broader neglect he had allowed. When he told her that she had hurt a child, Shanice minimized the assault, accused him of taking everyone else’s side, and used a disability slur about MJ. Devon ended the relationship, blocked her, and sent Ms. Patricia a written account.

Facebook Retaliation

Main article: Shanice Facebook Slander Incident (Summer 2014)

After the breakup and Devon’s report, Shanice posted that he had thrown her under the bus over nothing, lied to get her suspended, and turned on her because Kelsey was his “new little girlfriend.” Kelsey was not Devon’s girlfriend. The post recast the assault as waking a sleeping child and prompted strangers to attack Devon’s personality, class background, and motives.

The post received 128 likes and 64 comments. Unknown numbers sent Devon hostile messages. Keisha offered to correct the account publicly, Kelsey supplied eyewitness support privately, and Ty stayed with Devon while respecting his decision not to engage.

Memorable Quotes

“Look, new girl, MJ’s got his thing. He gets tired, he sleeps. We leave him alone. That’s just how it works here.”

“We work with the resources we have. We can’t give special treatment to one kid just because he’s got issues.”

“He’s not even hurt that bad.”

“are you seriously breaking up with me over this?? over some retarded kid who doesn’t even know what’s happening half the time? who just sleeps all day like a lazy piece of shit?”

Characters Supporting Characters Living Characters Black Characters Black American Characters