A group of Oregon City, Oregon, teens is under fire after video of them calling their white principal the n-word surfaced online Friday, Dec. 16.
In the video, three Oregon City High School students unleashed a slew of racial and bigoted epithets aimed at their principal and Black students. “What do you think about n—–s,” one student behind the camera asks at the start.
The camera then panned to the driver, who responded with a storm of expletives. “[Principal of OCHS] Tom Lovell is a f–king n—-r who arranges five n—–s a day coming into the school at OCHS,” the driver says. “F— him. [Expletive].”
A third student joined in, adding a disturbing transgender comment about Lovell. “F–k you, t–nny bastard b—-,” a student in a cowboy hat says before the video ends.
Student Adrian Alvarado told FOX 12, that the person recording the video was his friend. “It was mind-blowing, like I didn’t expect that to come from him,” Adrian says. “He was never like that.”
After finding the video on SnapChat, Adrian showed it to his older brother Marcus Hasan, a former student at the school. Hasan then shared it on Twitter. The video quickly picked up steam and eventually made its way to Lovell, who responded via Twitter.
This incident is just the latest in a rash of racially charged occurrences over the past months.
Earlier this year, a former OCHS student and a current one were shown holding a racist sign in a Facebook post, which prompted a student walkout over racism back in October. There also was a racially charged note left on a student’s doorstep that read: “Go back to picking cotton, n—-r. Black lives don’t matter.”
In this second October incident, Hasan told KATU that the note was intended for his girlfriend, who had posted a picture of herself wearing a Black Lives Matter shirt.
And in November, Atlanta Black Star reported that 15-year-old student Joy Simmons found racist notes in her binder demanding that she return to Africa.
While students are currently on winter break, the Oregon City School District released this statement in the wake of the controversy:
“An investigation is underway and individual students will face disciplinary action up to and possibly including expulsion. School administrators will also work with the students involved to make this situation a teachable moment. And assist them in efforts to repair the pain caused by their actions and words.”
The students involved have not been reprimanded, however, one of the boys reportedly has apologized for his actions, according to KATU.
People in OC don't get it…. pic.twitter.com/1W3WXjJ5u3
— Marcus (@marcus_hasan) December 16, 2016
