A Missouri school district is in a state of outrage following the explosive discovery of a petition created by white students demanding the reinstatement of slavery.
The incident has been confirmed by Ryan Staley who is Principal of Lead Innovation Studio, an educational program within the Park Hill South School District.
When asked directly if he can confirm that the racist incident was in fact a petition to reinstate slavery, Staley confirmed that was his “understanding.”
With these facts alone, this incident could legally be described as a hate crime by definition of the United States Department of Justice.
A number of Park Hill South parents have taken to Facebook and other social media platforms to express outrage at the violent racial language and the district’s lack of accountability and transparency.
We spoke with Brad Marvel, a parent of a Park Hill South High School student. His child is in a number of Snapchat groups, but was disturbed when one of the groups they were in began circulating racist screenshots.
His kid was in the groupchat and witnessed both the petitions going around as well as other comments. Brad agreed to go on record and speak with us.
Brad: Our oldest was on the snapchat group initially passing this stuff around. I don’t know who took the screenshots, but he showed them to us last Saturday and my wife and I both just about flipped the dining room table over when we saw what was posted. The comments ranged from “petition to bring back slavery” to “(black student) can work in my fields, it will help him lose some weight.” Just absolutely vile, disgusting crap that any conscientious 14-year-old should know better than to ever say or write to anyone, ever.
The Editor: What are the parents saying?
Brad: Parents around the district seem generally pretty livid (most certainly us included) and it looks like this story might be gaining some national traction. Which…good.
Brad: As a matter of fact, the superintendent just sent out some nonspecific stuff about “inclusion” and stuff like that. You know how it is, stuff that’s not really substative
The Editor: What do you think about how the Administration is handling the situation?
Brad: I would like to see the Administration being a whole lot more proactive, and when necessary strict about it. I would like to see this be the foundation for something “transformative,” Right now the administration is basically trying to make it go away as soon as possible, not do any real structural changes as far as how the district handles these problems. It’s less about the actual kids that were involved in the incident. As far as talking about this stuff publicly and going after the root of the problem which is more cultural than anything i think they should be more proactive on how they go about it.
This is a developing story. We will continue to provide updates as frequently as possible.
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