The vitriolic rhetoric of the presidential campaign has made its way into the nation’s schools. On Nov. 9, one day after polarizing figure Donald Trump was elected as the 45th president of the United States, students at a Michigan middle school broke out in chants of one of his controversial slogans.
(Screengrab from video on Facebook)
In an incident during the lunch break at Royal Oak Middle School in Detroit, a group of students broke out in chants of “Build the Wall,” echoing Trump’s promise to build a wall between the U.S. and Mexico. The incident was captured on video by Josie Ramon, 12, and widely circulated on social media, according to The Detroit News.
“Tears were running down my face,” said Ramon, who is Mexican-American. “I was so upset. A friend went to the bathroom crying. Everybody was chanting along with it. She was scared. She looked really upset. I felt really bad for her.”
The seventh-grader said she wanted evidence to show her mom, who eventually shared the video with another parent and from there it spread and found its way to Facebook.
“It’s so unbelievably wrong. I had no tolerance of it so I recorded it,” Ramon said.
The video has since gone viral, drawing 9 million views and more than 145,000 shares as of Friday afternoon.
“This happened today at Royal Oak Middle School in Royal Oak, Michigan,” wrote Dee Perez-Scott, who posted the video on Facebook on Wednesday. “It is so sad. Latino children were crying. The taunts, the ‘Build that Wall’ with such bullying power and hate from children to children. Just horrifying!”
Superintendent of Schools Shawn Lewis-Lakin acknowledged the incident and said it is being addressed.
“We are working with our students to help them understand the impact of their words and actions on others in their school community,” Lewis-Lakin said in a statement.
Due to some of the acrimonious comments made on Facebook, police officers were posted at the school.
According to Raw Story, this is one of several racist incidents at U.S. schools following Tuesday’s election results. Students at a Pennsylvania school marched through the campus with Trump signs shouting, “White power,” the website reported. Also, a Minnesota school was defaced with painted signs written above Trump’s name that declared, ““F*ck n*ggers,” “F*ck all porch monkeys” and “Whites only.”
