SAN ANTONIO — A viral video* containing racist language about African Americans spoken by students of a North East high school is circulating online. 

According to North East Independent School District, a 15-year-old Roosevelt High School student asked classmates to participate as part of a social experiment, but those students were not told the video would be posted online.

Aubrey Chancellor, NEISD communications director, said the video was first shared to YouTube by the creator, and the participating students expressed concern, prompting him to take the video down. At some point while it was up, a copy was made and disseminated on other social platforms, prompting a parent to email principal Melvin Echard on April 5 to inform him of the video.

All of the students in the video have been identified, and a total of 18 students face disciplinary action for their participation. NEISD said the district immediately launched an investigation, but were not able to discuss the exact disciplinary measures that are being taken. 

Councilman William “Cruz" Shaw released the following statement on what he calls the 'horrific, racist' video by Roosevelt High School students:

Today I saw a video where 18 students from Roosevelt High School spewed racist language about African Americans. I was in disbelief as I heard threats, slurs, and hate speech from children of all backgrounds.

Our office reached out to NEISD’s communications department for clarification and we were told that they could not legally divulge what specific disciplinary actions were taken. We were also told that the student who created this video asked others to participate in this video as a ‘social experiment’ and asked students to say the most offensive comments they could think of. Because of that, the district did not determine the threat made in the video to be an ‘actual threat.’

Ensuring our children are safe should always be our first priority and writing off threats and hate speech as a ‘social experiment’ is completely unacceptable. We also need to keep in mind that suspension and alternative school placement cannot adequately address the underlying issues that cause students to behave this way. A restorative justice approach must be taken to truly educate our children.

It is imperative that administrators exercise equitable treatment across the board when it comes to addressing threats made by students. In March, a female student was arrested for making four social media posts making bomb threats and is now facing four felony charges of terroristic threat.

After the domestic terrorism we have seen across our nation lately, school administrators everywhere are encouraging children to report any suspicious or threatening behavior. We have to show our students that proper action will be taken when they raise these concerns. We have to show our students that there is zero tolerance for threats, slurs, and hate speech in our schools, our district, and our city.

*Spectrum News has made the editorial decision to not release or embed the video due to the ages of the students and the graphic nature.