A Colorado chapter of the NAACP is calling for an investigation after a middle school student was caught on camera going on an anti-Black tirade, according to FOX 31.
The Rocky Mountain NAACP told reporters a white student at West Middle School in Greenwood Village recorded an off-campus video of himself using racial slurs, anti-Black stereotypes and even threatening to kill Black people. The organization claims the middle schooler reportedly said, "They should not be alive right now," a common phrase used by mass shooters like Dylann Roof, who killed nine Black Americans at a Charleston, South Carolina church in 2015.
On September 26, a student saw the racist video when it was getting shared around on a school bus and came face-to-face with the maker of the video. The offending student didn't apologize for what he said, and the reporting student didn't feel safe at school or on the bus.
Following the encounter, classmates allegedly started sending the reporting student pornographic pictures of minors, which could violate child pornography laws. The mother of the reporting student filed a police report after receiving threatening messages and unsolicited pornographic content, as well, the NAACP said.
The Greenwood Village Police Department investigated the matter but no criminal charges were filed due to lack of evidence, reporters learned.
The Rocky Mountain NAACP is now calling for a full investigation by Greenwood Village Police, the FBI, and the Colorado Bureau of Investigation, claiming the Cherry Creek School District and West Middle School administrators have "done nothing to protect all their students."
“In a world where school shootings are the norm, this matter is serious and needs to be addressed immediately to prevent another mass school shooting like Columbine and many across the nation,” the organization stated in a news release.
The school district told FOX 31 they were notified of the racist video in late September to "took swift action" against the offending student. Officials couldn't disclose the specifics of the punishment due to the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act, but a spokesperson for West Middle claims the student faced "significant discipline".
“In recent days, we have dealt with some incidents of racist speech at our school and in our community. This unacceptable behavior goes against our core values at West Middle School and throughout the Cherry Creek School District,” West Middle School Principal Monica Garcia wrote in a letter emailed to the school community on September 29.
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