Racist TikTok

Two Carrollton High School seniors were expelled Friday and won’t be allowed to graduate after a racist video they posted online went viral. In a statement, Carrollton City Schools Superintendent Mark Albertus said the students’ behavior was unacceptable and “not representative of the district’s respect for all people.” “The racist behavior observed in the video easily violates this standard,” he said. “They are no longer students at Carrollton High School.” The video, initially posted to the social media platform TikTok on Thursday, went viral after showing the two teenagers using the n-word and making disparaging remarks about black people. The 50-second clip was shared so many times that “Carrollton” was trending on Twitter by Friday morning. In my opinion I don’t know what they were thinking having this video being everywhere on social media and now that it’s out the two students are wanting the school district to let them graduate and go to their dream school. By all of this happening I don’t feel any guilt for them. They made that video out of hate towards my culture and the stereotypes they used are not true. “I was very surprised. I just couldn’t believe that in this day and age we’re still having to deal with these types of issues,” said O’Neal, a 1976 Carrollton High graduate who has lived in the city his entire life and is a member of the school’s Hall of Fame. “We are called Trojan Nation for a reason, and that is not indicative of anything that goes on in this community nor this city.”  His sentiment was echoed by school board chairman David Godwin, who said there are “no excuses for this type of behavior.” “Our tradition as a system has never tolerated racist behavior and it won’t going forward,” Godwin said in an emailed statement. “It not only negatively impacts our schools, but our community at large. Carrollton does not champion racism and it is regretful an ill-conceived, minute-long TikTok video can wreak havoc that causes distress for everyone. “The resulting social media outrage, however, encourages me to be proud to be a part of such a wonderful community. We will get through this together and will continue to uphold the values that make our community great.” The board chair said he and his colleagues stand behind the district’s leadership for applying what he called appropriate consequences. 

Some on social media questioned whether district officials could punish the students for a video they recorded outside of school. Carrollton High Principal David Brooks said that even if the video was recorded at home, “it doesn’t alleviate the students’ responsibility to uphold a high standard of behavior.”