Winchester Thurston School students are speaking out and calling on school officials to do more after their classmates posted a racist video on Snapchat.
“Honestly, it’s just disgusting … it’s disturbing. It’s uncomfortable,” said Alivia Wright, a Winchester Thurston School senior.
The video has caused outcry and anger among students at the school.
Channel 11 blurred their faces because of their ages. All the students are high-school age.
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The video shows a male student with his knee on the back of a female student saying “knee” and “George”.
The female student is heard giggling and says, “I can’t breathe.”
Alivia Wright and her classmates say it is a blatant mockery of the death of George Floyd.
“I find it very shocking that the ‘I can’t breathe’ statement was made after George,” said Wright.
The video was shot two weeks ago during a free period inside of the Shadyside school.
Friday, students wore black as part of a protest to stand against the video and the administration.
They believe leaders lacked transparency and minimized the incident.
“It makes me very disappointed. I have four adopted Black brothers and as a white person, I say that it’s not really my place to be angry,” said Wright.
Channel 11 reached out to Winchester Thurston School officials for comment.
Dr. Scott Fech, the head of the school, said in a statement:
“We are currently investigating a student disciplinary issue in the Upper School involving a serious violation of our commitment to the work of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion. I am not at liberty to share the details of the incident. We are deeply committed to creating a safe and equitable environment for all community members and condemn any actions in our community which violate that. WT has a strong commitment to Equity and Inclusion and we work intentionally with the goal that all members of our community experience the feeling of belonging.
“We cannot comment on individual student disciplinary action. However, we take all allegations seriously and investigate them according to our student handbook which includes interviews with involved students and their advisors. In this case, in addition to me, our Director of Upper School, Upper School Dean of Students, Assistant Head for Education and Strategy, and Director of Equity, Inclusion, and Wellness have all been integrally involved.
“We have provided spaces for our students and employees of color to gather to acknowledge the incident and to offer our support. We have also used our advisory programs to support all of our students. We recognize that individuals have been impacted differently and our team of counselors are working closely with our Director of Equity, Inclusion, and Wellness to address individual student concerns in developmentally-appropriate ways.
“We have provided spaces for our students and employees of color to gather to acknowledge the incident and to offer our support.”
“I really just hope that the school handles it in a mature way,” said Wright.
Students tell Channel 11 there is a much larger conversation that needs to happen, and they are not done just yet.
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