Most Americans today would agree that racial tensions haven’t been this highly charged since the Civil Rights era of the late 1950s and 60s. And that animosity, sadly, is filtering down to high school students, as one recent series of incidents at a Baltimore, Maryland area school indicates.
According to TV station WJZ in Baltimore, the problems began when students at Arundel High School created a “KKK” group, an acronym for “Kool Kids Klan.” It was definitely white supremacist and racist in nature, and the group posted some Tweets on its feed, including one that reportedly said:
“Do your civic duty and make sure everyone knows their proper place below whites.”
But that was when a strange twist occurred. Because a student then threw fuel on the fire by tweeting out that “we’re planning to attack tomorrow,” which emanated from the group’s Twitter account.
However, upon investigation, Anne Arundel County Police Department found that that Tweet had actually been posted by a 14-year-old African-American female student, who has reportedly done things like this in the past as well.
Parents on both sides of the racial divide were understandably horrified, and Annapolis area administrators called a meeting to try to calm the fears and concerns of all involved.
According to Robert Mossier of the Anne Arundel County Public School District: “The school acted swiftly, they acted aggressively, and they administrated appropriate disciplinary action.” He noted that under federal law, he is not allowed to specify what those exact actions were, however.
In the end, that “hoax” tweet caused a juvenile citation to be issued to the African-American girl who had created and placed it. Authorities say that no one else has been charged, as no direct threats were ever made, therefore leaving it under the “free speech” umbrella.
If you know someone who might like this, please click “Share!”