“I’m at a loss of words for what they’ve done,” Nya Sigin, a Minnesota teenager said earlier this week after a now-viral video showed a fellow student at Prior Lake High School in Savage, Minnesota, engaging in racist behavior, targeting her and her sister Elizabeth Sigin.
“It was just the most disgusting thing I’ve ever witness in my entire life,” the freshman told KSTP of one of the many videos that reportedly were shared on social media, including one where the student encouraged Nya to end her life while hurling racist attacks at her. “I was feeling I was confused. I didn’t really know what I had done to even deserve it,” the girl said.
The sisters say the conflict began when a girl, who has not been named, recorded a video of herself attacking a pillow that featured the N-word inscribed on it. “She beat up the pillow while calling the pillow racial slurs, pretending as if the pillow was a Black person,” her sister Elizabeth, a senior at the school, said.
Nya said another classmate shared the video with her earlier this week, telling the outlet that when she initially “saw the video, I hadn’t really processed everything that was going on.” she added, “I was hearing the words but yesterday I was in my counselor’s office, and I was really talking about it to them, and that’s when it all really hit me and how personal it was to me. That was just really hard because I just had this wave of emotions.”
The teens said when they spoke out about the disturbing clip, more videos were created, appearing to target the siblings specifically. The young girl — who said she suffers from depression and anxiety — told reporters just months after she was released from an inpatient hospital following a bout with a mental health issue, another video began circulating.
“You dark ass n–ger,” the outlet reported the student said in the video. “You dark ass chocolate bar. Get the f-ck out of here. No one likes n–gers. No one likes them. F-cking kill yourself right this time. Do it f-cking right. Cut deep enough this time, or f-cking tie the rope higher. Like, what the f-ck.”
The school sent out a letter to parents on Wednesday, Nov. 11, with Principal John Bezek telling staff and families that Prior Lake “does not tolerate racism or hate speech.”
Superintendent Dr. Teri Stalock revealed that “An investigation into the students involved with the video is underway and we will take appropriate action. We remain focused on our priority of providing safe, supportive and inclusive learning environments for all students.”
“I want to see them hold these people accountable,” Elizabeth told KSTP. “It’s already hard enough being in such a predominantly white area as a Black family, and as Black women, it makes it so much harder for us. I really just want to see my school do something about this video and give real consequences to the students who are involved.”
Still despite an overwhelming amount of support from peers, Nya remains uncertain what her days at the high school will look like, telling FOX9, “I really can’t imagine what the next four years are going to look like, and it scares me. It really does scare me to have to go through this.” She added, “No one should ever have to go through this, especially regarding the color of their skin.”
The Savage Police Department are also looking into the situation as it is illegal to encourage someone to commit suicide in the state of Minnesota.
