Somebody’s sweet little cherub who would never say a bad thing is at it again. This time, middle school students are caught up in racist controversy after they were seen on a now-viral video chanting “KKK” and making derogatory statements against different ethnic and racial groups. The incident once again rocks the Wake County, N.C., school system.
The three students seen on the video, all of whom attend Leesville Road Middle School in Raleigh, N.C., have since been disciplined by the school, according to the News & Observer. In the video, the students can be heard saying, “If you’re in America, we don’t accept” blacks, Jews, Arabs or Hispanics.
“Go back to the fields of Alabama,” one student says. “Go back to the factories in Mississippi. You don’t deserve freedom.”
Leesville Road Principal Cindy Kreme on Wednesday left a voicemail message for parents, updating them on the situation.
“Here at Leesville Road Middle School, the expectation is that we adhere to high standards for all students,” Kremer said in the message. “This video violates those standards, and its messages will not be condoned in our school.”
The students on Tuesday had reportedly posted to a music app a music video—which Kremer described as “a racist rant filled with racist imagery”—that was shared with other students. A parent brought the video to the school’s attention on Wednesday morning, and after an investigation, the students received “appropriate disciplinary action,” the News & Observer notes.
Tionda Holt, an African-American parent with a child at the school, told the news site that families heard that the three eighth-graders were suspended for three days. Holt said she believes that the punishment should have been more severe, and she met with Kreme Thursday to ask for a more serious suspension.
“That video represents terrorism,” Holt said. “That is inciting hate. Someone could have seen that video and gotten riled up.”
The mother compared the slap on the wrist the three students received with the 10-day suspension initially given to a Wake Forest High student captured in a video pulling a white classmate to the ground after the white classmate called him a “black piece of shit.”
That student’s suspension was later reduced to five days after complaints were lodged. The student’s mother said his actions were a result of months of racial harassment and threats that were not properly handled by the school.
According to the News & Observer, Wake County school officials say they are discussing what more can be done to address the issues that have been raised by the two videos.
“It’s disturbing,” Lisa Luten, a Wake County Schools spokeswoman, told the site. “It’s concerning, and it’s something we’re having conversations about, whether a larger action needs to be taken.”
Read more at the News & Observer.