Two high school students in Pennsylvania are receiving death threats after playing a game of hangman with the n-word as the answer. This took place at Hollidaysburg Area Senior High School in Hollidaysburg, Pennsylvania, east of Pittsburgh. The “hanging man” in the video also appears on a burning cross.
yall thought i was playin? pic.twitter.com/QmrZp463wr
— dokes (@johndokess) May 29, 2018
The teen who filmed the video posted it to his Snapchat, where it was taken and shared on Facebook. Someone from the area shared the post, saying:
“how does the school even let something like that fly or happen? smh. Truly disgusted. Anyone who knows who’s in the video or had anything to do with it, report it to the school.”
To answer that question, apparently, the students were alone in the classroom at the time. A teacher could see them, but not what they were drawing on the whiteboard.
As soon as the video spread around the community, superintendent Bob Gildea released a statement, calling the video “an embarrassment to our students, staff and community.”
The student whose Snapchat was used to post the video apologized on Facebook. He wrote:
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“I know there’s a bunch of bullshit going on with the snapchat and I took care of it. I’m not even the one who recorded it or posted it. Someone had my phone (not saying who) and took the video of the kid (not saying who). I sincerely apologize that this happened. People it’d be funny to take my phone and record stuff and try to start drama.”
In a text conversation, that student also claims to not have been in the room when the game of hangman was taking place. He says he went to the bathroom but left his phone because everyone was using it for Spotify. Though he says he wasn’t involved in it, several of his classmates say they can hear him laughing in the background, and the student at the whiteboard itself says he was the one filming.
The student who actually drew the hangman image also issued an apology through Facebook. He wrote:
“I am genuinely sorry for my actions at school today. I’m not a racist. I have many black friends and I shouldn’t have used that word. I’m a stupid kid and I was just trying to be funny. I know now that it is not funny and I’m very sorry to anyone offended by the post.”
We’ve been seeing this a lot lately. People taking racist actions because they think it’s funny, but then claim they’re not racists when they’re caught in the act, but — that’s what racism is.
Discipline against the students has not been announced, but the school district said the investigation is ongoing and that they will be punished.
What do you think the punishment should be for these students? Let us know in the comments, or on Twitter at @WhatsTrending.
