More than 700 high school and college students demonstrated on Thursday after racist images were found on a Berkeley High School computer, the Daily Californian reported.
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Berkeleyside reports the messages were discovered Wednesday afternoon.
The modified screenshot of the library’s website page read “F*** ALL THE N*****S IN THE WORLD” and “KKK FOREVER”, threatening a “public lynching” on Dec.9.
Among the chants was “Black Lives Matter”, a refrain that has come to define a national movement against systemic racism and police violence that spawned a year ago in the wake of numerous high-profile police killings of unarmed black men.
In June, Berkeley High administrators recalled the school yearbook after someone slipped a racist message into the Academy of Medicine and Public Service (AMPS) entry. The students are taking action into their own hands and rallying together.
After the rally, the students began to march, first stopping by Berkeley’s old City Hall and then to the famed Sprout Hall, a location on the University of California-Berkeley’s campus that has been a frequent site of protests and rallies. He said that the school district was conducting a “very strong investigation” with the help of local law enforcement agencies to figure out who posted the image on the library’s computer.
Berkeley High School Principal Sam Pasarow was reportedly on scene at the protests, which he said he “absolutely” supports. They also feel it is clear the author intended for it to be spread.
An aerial view of the crowd of students that formed to protest racist in California.
“We recognize the deep pain and rage that hate crimes such as this one bring to our students of color, as well as the damaging effects on our entire community”. “The leadership the students have shown today is incredible”.
They called on the administration to take the threat seriously.
This message was discovered Wednesday at Berkeley High School.
“In the past acts of terror committed against the black student body have been ignored”. He said police were monitoring the event and blocking off streets to allow students to march.
Understandably, this message got a lot of attention, particularly from students on Twitter. They say the student was interrogated and admitted to doing this only after a technological forensic analysis was done on the computer.
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Jacqueline Klecak is a news and entertainment writer for Heavy.
