New Jersey police probe racist online posts by high school students
The superintendent of a school district in central New Jersey says police launched an investigation after a string of racist incidents were reported
A New Jersey education official spoke out recently after a racist photo, mocking the death of George Floyd and posted on the internet, was connected to students in his school district.
The event is reportedly one in a string of racist incidents involving students at Hunterdon Central Regional High School in Flemington, New Jersey, according to reporting from NJ.com.
Jeffrey Moore, superintendent of Hunterdon Central Regional High School School District, revealed to the digital news outlet that local police are now investigating racist online activity by students.
“We’ve had recent incidents on social media involving students, and incidents of infiltration with racist slurs on videoconference platforms,” Moore said.
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The posts were said to be shared on the photo-disappearing app Snapchat.
The news follows an August letter that Moore sent to parents regarding the two high school students seen photographing themselves making fun of the killing of Floyd, who died in late May while being detained by Minneapolis police.
The unnamed teenagers were said to be reenacting the scene when a police officer knelt on Floyd’s neck for nearly nine minutes until he died. In the photo, one shirtless teen donning a “Make America Great Again” was kneeling on the neck of another teen, who was donning a gorilla mask.
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“I write to share my utter disgust and deepest concern over a recent racist post on social media, allegedly perpetrated by students of our school,” Moore said in the letter. “We take such reports very seriously and pursue all avenues available to protect the safety and wellbeing of everyone who lives and learns in our community. In that, we work with parents and law enforcement, including our partners in the Raritan Township Police Department and the Hunterdon County Bias Crimes Unit, without hesitation.”
Mark Moton, a Black parent of a Hunterdon Central student, expressed deep offense to the photograph.
“It’s extremely offensive and disrespectful and something that has no place in our town, in the city, or in the state, or in the country,” Moton told NJ.
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