A misogynist, anti-Black video made by a high school student has roiled an Alabama town and spurred the local chapter of the NAACP to demand a long overdue "zero tolerance" approach to racism.
The video of a Northridge High School student in Tuscaloosa spewing hateful rhetoric circulated last week, just a year after the school made headlines for another video that captured disparaging racial remarks.
In the video, a white student speaks directly to the camera.“Your sister has a class with me, where I fuck her and get head from her every day. Bitch. N-----,” he says. (It’s not clear who he is speaking to in the clip.)
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A Black middle school student then re-posted the clip, adding a caption that said, “This [is] why I don’t like white [people]. I thought dude was cool. Like you didn’t just go to a school that prides itself on its diversity and inclusivity.”
In a statement posted on its Facebook page Monday, the Tuscaloosa chapter of the NAACP said it was going to make sure the state branch of the NAACP, the principal of Northridge High School, Tuscaloosa City School District, and city officials were aware of the video’s content.
“For too long, incidents of this nature have either been covered up or received little to no repercussions for the perpetrators,” the statement read. “We believe that this is the direct result of bias and poor leadership. People elected or placed in positions to protect the interests of all residents of Tuscaloosa [are] more set on maintaining divisions of hierarchy and a culture of underclass than striving to achieve true equality… These biased responses serve as a conduit for these anti-social and racially insensitive acts of aggression to persist.”
The statement added, “If the punishment for these degrading acts were applied equally across zip codes, we would see an immediate decline in their occurrence.”
They demanded Tuscaloosa City School administration adopt “a Zero Tolerance Policy against racially charged language used by” students on or off school property, and that students who do are “immediately expelled.”
Community members claim that appropriate action is never taken against racist acts because racism is so embedded within the town’s culture.
“[My kids] are not surprised it happened,” Athena Tselios Shore, a white parent, told The Daily Beast. “You just wonder what’s going on with these kids. It obviously speaks to a bigger problem with the city.”
Parents within the district also say there’s an obvious racial divide between the schools that has been perpetuated by redlining.
“I’m just tired of the system and its mouthpieces denying there’s a problem and racism is limited to isolated incidents,” said a parent, who wished to remain anonymous.
They discovered the video after a school employee privately sent it to them.
“There’s a history in the school system of teachers and other staff feeling like they could face reprisals for speaking up,” the parent told The Daily Beast. “I’ve been privy to insider info over the years because they know I’ll hold their confidence as well as not let it get swept under the rug.”
In an interview with The Daily Beast, Shore said she sat and talked with her kids about the video that had been circulating. Her youngest son goes to a magnet middle school that pulls students from multiple areas in the city. However, she said the three high schools in the district are visibly segregated. Her two oldest children, who are white, attend Central High School to continue their academic program from middle school. However, she said many of their white classmates opted not to go because the school has a majority Black student population. Instead, she said they chose Northridge, which is predominately white.
“Northridge is north of the river where it's wealthier, and there's lots of advantages,” she said, adding that Central does not have the same amount of after-school activities as Northridge, even though they’re in the same district.
“The other children in the city need to know that everybody else's success isn't coming at their expense,” Shore said.
Northridge came under fire last year after a student made derogatory comments toward Central High School students.
According to Patch.com, a white male student in a Northbridge football jersey was filmed lambasting Central students at a makeshift pep rally for living “in the shittiest part of town” and attending the “shittiest school.”
Other white students cheered and shouted, “Fuck Central!” in unison.
At the time, Northridge High School Principal J. Tygar Evans said the student’s rhetoric did not represent the views of the school and apologized to Central.
“Actions have been taken by the [Northridge High School] administration, athletic department and head football coach relative to the incident,” Evans said, according to Patch. “This type of behavior will not be tolerated.”
On Tuesday, Northridge High School posted a statement on its website, saying that administrators were aware of the latest video “involving hate speech” and that a district-led investigation had been launched.
In a statement to The Daily Beast, a spokesperson for Tuscaloosa City Schools said parents are notified and the student is interviewed when a violation is reported.
According to the statement, the student in the video will be given due process and their identity will be kept confidential. District Superintendent Mike Daria will also meet with the NAACP “to address some of their concerns and use it as an opportunity for dialogue,” the statement said.
