Education

Video of alleged racial harassment, confrontation at Wake Forest High goes viral

By Abbie Bennett

abennett@newsobserver.com
RALEIGH

A video posted to Instagram and Twitter by a Wake Forest High School student showing an altercation between two students and a teacher has been shared thousands of times.

The video, posted to Instagram on Friday by Tyler Goodell, who identified himself as a Wake Forest High School student on his Instagram page, shows a black student pulling a white student to the floor before a female teacher intervenes. Attempts to contact Goodell on social media were not immediately returned.

The video contains profanity.

 

This is my buddy Micah. We have been through a lot together and he has always had my back and helped me out. Yesterday, he defended himself and his heritage. The white kid has been using racial slurs and black jokes since the class started two months ago. But recently he started taking it too far. He told Micah, " you should name your kids convict and crack head, because that's what they're gonna grow up to be". I don't know if it's just me or not but that upsets me a lot. And it's sad to hear that he left it all alone because the teacher didn't do anything about it and was just as bad for ignoring the behavior in the class. But yesterday it was taken too far, they started arguing back and forth to each other, then the white kid pulls out his phone and shows Micah (and the class) a video of him shooting sawed off shot guns, and saying "I'll kill your whole family, your mom and your sister, i don't care if you're from Chicago I'll be the one to kill you". This also infuriated me quite a lot, this is absolutely ridiculous that no one has done anything about this and let it go as far as it has. So he left the class, being followed by a friend who was trying to calm him down, then the white kid comes out into micahs face and calls him a dumb n*****. This is where Micah walked up to him and pulled him down. And then he proceeds with the racism and says to Micah "f****** black piece of s***. I can not believe the teachers, and bystanders did nothing. The teacher then comes over and says "it was just words, that he had no right to defend himself, and his heritage, and told Micah not to touch her. She also told Micah "you're a punk if you hit a girl". Micah is now suspended for 10+ days and is being charged with bullying and assault on the student. Micah has the biggest heart a human can have in the world. And after all of this has happened, the white student is uncharged, and free, no trouble at all. All I ask from you, if you're reading this, is to defend my friend, and to bring notice to the administration.

A post shared by wfhs (@tyler.goodell) on

In his Instagram post, Goodell gave his version of the context of the incident. He said the black student, a friend named Micah, was defending himself against racial harassment that Goodell says has been going on for months with no action from the school.

Goodell said that Micah and a student who was harassing him argued last week and that the white student threatened Micah and his family before using a racial slur against him. Goodell also said that the teacher in the video provoked Micah and that the teacher claimed that Micah hit her.

Micah was suspended for more than 10 days, Goodell said in his post, but the student who allegedly harassed him received no punishment.

Wake Forest High principal Patti Hamler left a voicemail message Sunday night with parents telling them that school administrators are aware of the video and are investigating the situation. She also encouraged parents who have concerns to contact the school.

“I would like to take this opportunity to encourage your children to not share rumors,” Hamler said. “If your child has information to share, they should contact an administrator directly.

“We strive each day to create a positive learning environment and take every measure to ensure the safety of our students.

Twitter users have hounded the WCPSS Twitter account demanding an explanation, calling for action or criticizing the school system over the alleged incident.

“School officials are aware of the video and are investigating,” said Timothy Simmons, Wake County Public Schools chief communications officer. “Federal student privacy laws prohibit us from discussing details of individual cases.”

This story was originally published March 5, 2017 at 1:05 PM with the headline "Video of alleged racial harassment, confrontation at Wake Forest High goes viral."

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