Haywood Co. students, parents outraged over racially-charged social media messages
A call to action from Haywood Co. students, parents and citizens as they spent the entire school day peacefully protesting
BROWNSVILLE, Tenn. — A community is outraged over racially-charged social media messages that went viral over the weekend.
“This is a hate crime,” concerned parent Betty Shutes said. “We’re going to call it how we see it. We want action now, right now. Not next week, not next month, but right now.”
Malik Lamont, the student who organized the protest, says he was speechless when he saw the racial slurs.
“I’m around these people like every day. I never knew,” Lamont said.
Lamont says he had to step up to the plate to make sure his voice and the voices of other students and parents would be heard.
“We just can’t stand for it anymore, and it was time we had to take action,” Lamont said.
Students, parents and community leaders were outside since early Monday morning waiting for answers from the school district. Many want to know what’s going to happen to the students allegedly responsible for the social media messages.
According to protesters, the students who allegedly wrote the racial messages have already been reprimanded.
“Why was this swept under the rug for two weeks? Why did they get away with a 10-page essay?” Shutes said.
“What is a 10-page paper when you talking about hanging someone?” Lamont said. “What is a 10-page paper? What does that do?”
Superintendent Joey Hassell said he was made aware of the messages Sunday morning and has requested a detailed report of the investigation. Some parents say until they get answers they will continue to peacefully protest with their children.
“These kids did something that I would have never did at they age, never,” Shutes said.
“This is not a black issue. This is not a white issue — this is a community issue, and for everyone that stands against racism, you should be out here standing with these kids,” another concerned parent, Dr. Angella Palmer-Banks, said.
Many of the students say they came forward, scared of what might happen if they didn’t.
“That’s very unsafe. We’re around people that want to kill us and we never knew,” Lamont said.
A spokesperson for the school district said there will be classes Tuesday. Student and parent protesters say they plan to rally together every day until some form of action takes place.
Parents also collected a list of demands from students during the protest, and many are asking for the students who are allegedly responsible to be expelled from school.
