Eleven-year-old Amadou Drame and his 13-year-old brother Pape arrived in the United States from Senegal three weeks ago, around the same time that the first Ebola patient in the U.S. was fighting for his life at a Dallas hospital. The two boys are U.S. citizens but they grew up in Senegal. Their father said when they first arrived, they were happy.

"They try to play with the kids even though they don't speak English," Ousmame Drame said. He said the boys love soccer. But it didn't take long for things to change at their school, IS 318 in the Bronx.

Drame said the boys were called Mr. Ebola, were ostracized during play time, and last Friday they were both assaulted. As he described the incident, the two boys stood by his side. "Too many children on top of this boy. They was killing him," he said. His voice quivered with emotion.

According to a community leader assisting the family, the younger boy was punched several times in the eye inside the school gym. Then at lunch time, he was at the playground and sitting by himself when other kids started yelling "Ebola" and again started punching and kicking him. His older brother heard the commotion, came over to help, and was then pummeled himself. The boys' father said as many as 20 children were involved.

"These boys, they are the victim of politicians and us. They don't do anything wrong. I believe they don't deserve to be beaten," Drame said.

Drame told the boys' story at crowded press conference in Harlem. Sokhma Seye was also present, and spoke about her nine-year-old daughter.

"My daughter has been bullied last week about Ebola," she said. Her daughter attends Dream Charter School in East Harlem. Seye said that her daughter's classmate accused her of having Ebola and the child came home upset and asking whether she had the virus.

"I told her no you don't have Ebola, and Ebola is not something that is funny," Seye said. "The people who have Ebola did not choose to have Ebola and they need help."

School officials said they were investigating both incidents.

"We will not tolerate intimidation or bullying of our students, especially in this moment when New Yorkers need to come together," said School's Chancellor Carmen Fariña in a statement.

Eve Colavito, head of school at DREAM Charter School, said in a statement that the school "does not tolerate bullying of any type," and "officials began a mediation process between the students involved so that this does not happen again."

Seye, a hair braider, said customers are scared to come in. At the nearby Macenta Hair Braiding in Harlem, there were several empty chairs.

"I lost a lot of customers. They call sometimes, say they can't come," said Oumou Barry, who was twisting small strands of customer Whitney Mero's hair. Mero said she had no reservations about coming into the salon and said people were acting ridiculous.

"We love an outbreak. I mean more of us die from heart disease. Heart disease is epidemic but we're not doing anything about that. We're not outlawing cars. Cars kill 50,000 people a year," she said. "We're not outlawing bullets. We're not outlawing the things that are killing us."

Barry said she had been in the U.S. nearly 20 years. She said she loved America and was sorry Ebola had come here. But she also had a message for her customers.

"Calm down. Come do your hair," she said. "We've been working together almost more than 10 years. You're supposed to know us. You're not supposed to listen to the news or listen to anybody, " Barry said with frustration in her voice.