Threat of KKK-style lynching was third racial threat at Berkeley High this year
School officials say a 15-year-old student has admitted to posting the message that prompted a massive student protest. Students are troubled by what they see as a pattern of racial threats on campus.
Berkeley High School students yell around Sproul Plaza at UC Berkeley for a rally against racism in Berkeley, Calif., on Thursday. Berkeley High School students walked out of class Thursday in protest of a racist message left on a computer screen a day earlier, district officials said.
Laura A. Oda/Bay Area News Group/AP
School administrators in Berkeley, Calif., say they identified the student who posted a threat of a KKK-style lynching on a high school computer, shortly after more than half of the student body walked out of class in protest.
鈥淚 think it鈥檚 terrific to be able to find out, and rare to solve something like this on the same day,鈥� Police spokesman Byron White .
School officials said that a聽15-year-old student admitted on Thursday to posting the threat, which included a racial slur and was聽designed to look like an official school web page and was left on the screen at Berkeley High School. School officials and police have applauded the quick resolution but students and members of the Black Student Union say the incident is part of a pattern of racial threats that school officials have failed to stop.
Recent incidents of racial threats and slurs on the Berkeley High School campus include a noose found on campus in December and a racist quote published in last year鈥檚 yearbook. Officials largely ignored these incidents, students say.
"We will not allow this to be trivialized like these other horrific instances," .
More than 1,500 of the school's roughly 3,000 students walked out of class in an attempt to highlight the incident. Police and school administrators supported the demonstration.
鈥淲e didn鈥檛 have any problems,鈥� said . 鈥淔rom our standpoint it was terrific.鈥�
The diverse and energetic demonstration remained peaceful throughout the day Thursday.
鈥淚t鈥檚 really heartening to see this many people turning out," BHS student Alecia Harger, one of the leaders of the Black Student Union, which is credited for organizing the demonstration, told聽Berkeleyside during the rally.聽"It鈥檚 a great event of healing for black students from Berkeley聽High who had to endure this incident.鈥�
This report includes material from The Associated Press.