There’s a racial uproar at Roosevelt High School after more than a dozen students were recorded making racist remarks. The video was posted on social media.
According to the North East Independent School District, a black student who recorded the video told the students to say, “I hate black people,” as part of a social experiment. He told them he wasn't going to post the video, but to their surprise, it was posted on YouTube and other social media platforms. Now all of them are facing consequences.
Roosevelt High Senior Danielle Anderson-Williams said that she is shocked.
"I don't really see the purpose of the video,” she said. "I am shocked there is a black person in the video, because if you are a black person, you should know the struggle it is for people out here and you want to condone what other people are doing and saying."
NEISD Spokesperson Aubrey Chancellor says that a parent informed the principal about the video nearly two weeks ago.
"You watch that video and it is disgusting,” Chancellor said. "It is inappropriate. It is sickening. If there is anything good about this, those students say this is not how they actually feel."
Chancellor said that the student who made the video told the teens it was for a social experiment. Chancellor also made it clear that this was not part of a class assignment.
"He told them exactly what to say, and many were uncomfortable saying what he wanted them to say," she said. "Why they did it anyway, I don't know. But there was no malice behind their comments is what they're saying."
"At the end of the day, it was their choice to be involved in it,” Anderson-Williams said. “If you didn't want to do it, you should have said, ‘I don't feel comfortable,’ or ‘I don't want to do it.’”
All 18 students were punished. However, Chancellor couldn't go into specifics. But she did say that the student who made the video, and other students who used even more derogatory terms and gestures, will have a tougher punishment.