PRINCETON – The Johnston County NAACP and African American Caucus of the Johnston County Democratic Party said Tuesday they are closely monitor an incident involving students at Princeton High School.
A video obtained by ABC 11 reportedly shows at least four white students waiving Trump 2024 and Blue Lives Matter flags in the school gymnasium. Student Brooklyn Edwards told ABC 11 she has been called racial slurs and tensions are high between white and black students at the school.
“[I’ve been] called the N-word … a monkey, told to pick cotton,” the 15 year-old student alleges. She claims school staff failed to respond or intervene.
The Johnston County NAACP and African American Caucus of the Johnston County Democratic Party today called on the Johnston County Public Schools administration to conduct a thorough investigation into the Princeton High incident and to ensure accountability for any students who may have been involved in the alleged bullying as well as for any staff who failed to respond appropriately.
The organizations also are seeking to be part of a meaningful review of Johnston County Public Schools’ policies relating to racism and bullying.
“Black students are too often the victims of racial bullying that is ignored or handled improperly,” said Dr. Gettys Cohen, president of NAACP-Johnston County Branch. “The experiences are numerous and deserve attention. Black students who react to bullying are oftentimes the ones who suffer the consequences.”
“The school system administration’s effort is lacking and its follow-through at times has been lacking when it comes to initiators being disciplined,” said Angelique Legette, president of the African American Caucus of the Johnston County Democratic Party.
According to a joint news release today, the NAACP and African American Caucus stated, “Johnston County’s long history of racism, inequality, and injustice against Black people continues in law, policy, and practice. In June, the Board of Commissioners withheld funds from Johnston County Public Schools until it approved a policy that limited how racism and our nation’s history are taught in classrooms.”
“The recent demagoguery and ginning up of a fake controversy that stokes racial divisions are contributing to the animosity experienced by Black students,” Legette said.
“Johnston County is changing, and Black and other minority children should be able to attend school without the fear of racist bullying so that they can focus on their education,” Legette said. “Students must also have confidence that school administrators will establish and enforce policies to include and protect them.”
“Johnston County Public Schools must stand up for its students and immediately institute and enforce a zero-tolerance policy for racism, discrimination, and harassment,” Dr. Cohen said.
JCPS released a statement about the incident saying, “Johnston County Public Schools is aware of a video circulating on social media that was taken inside of Princeton High School. While we can not and will not comment on specific events regarding student discipline, it is important for our community to know that we do not take any bullying or harassment incidents lightly. It is important to both our Superintendent and all JCPS staff to foster a climate that includes respect for others. We appreciate our staff and community partners working together to ensure that our schools are a welcoming and harmonious place for all.”
As a black man I can say that if the NAACP is involved, usually what they say happened and what actually happened are two completely different things.
I want to see the actual video because what ABC had was not only censored by completely biased. I’ll prove it. The reporter said that the students were taunting black students with the flag. Even through the blurry faces you can tell a lot of the students are white. Then the black student they interviewed said they were waiving the flags in their faces. Then in the literal next sentence she said she got up off the bleachers and ran up to them. So which is it? Were they in your faces or did you have to run up to them? The video answers that. So in that part she’s lying.
I’m not saying the flag bearers are completely innocent. But the narrative of this story is already shaping to be that the white kids are racists and harassing the black kids. Because you notice ABC didn’t interview any white kids.
Yes, it is obvious the story is slanted one way. News/media should just report facts.
The only way the United States of America will survive is to take control of the school boards. Our kids do not become property of the government on the first day of school the way teachers union past president Teri Sessions has convinced the rest of the weak miserable excuses for school board members. This school board really believes that your kids are their property and it is their every right to mold them into social justice warriors and to seek groups like ANTIFA or other marxist groups. You parents should not have to bare the financial burden to protect your kids by going to a private school. Parents just take your school board back and lets try to save what little we have of a safe society.
This sword is only being swung one way.
If it was the opposite race waving Black Lives Matter flags,etc.and whites being called Crackers it would be called there rights to do so.
It’s time all races be treated the same as far as what’s right and wrong.
Abso-freaking-lutely!
Still doesn’t make it right.
We are all one race, the human race.
If the verbal abuse, did happen the children’s responsible should be held accountable no matter the color of their skin. Why didn’t someone take a video of the incident if this is a constant problem. The flag should not be an issue several teachers post BLM and gay pride flags in their classroom and Dr. Bracey allows it so why is the problem supporting police officers or your political hero. They allow displaying their support for their favorite sports and political hero’s as long as they support BLM and socialist’s agenda theirs’s no issue. Where was the media when the SRO officer was jumped at NJHS by 4 to 8 black females?
Hey Roy, because high school kids waiving around a Trump 2024 flag three years before a presidential election are trying to instigate something (and they got what they wanted). Every Trump voter is not a racist, but it sure seems like every racist supports Trump.
Trump 2024 !🇺🇸
I am not a Trump fan, but they have a right to fly that flag if they choose without being called racist. What is wrong with flying a flag in support of our policeman. Racism can go both ways. Look at the entire video without anything being cut out. Let the truth prevail.
It’s funny how most of the comments show no empathy for this child…not one comment on how calling her those names and taunting her was wrong…instead you all try to reach for some other “issue”. Not that I expect you to though..you can only go as far as your mind will take you.
Maybe if you take a look at the video and saw her tearing personal property that she didn’t agree with out of someone elses hand your mind may expand as well.
Hey T Biden. Welcome to the grown up’s table. Where we play by grown up rules. For example, the girl accused the boys of being racist and saying they were up in people’s faces. The video clearly shows otherwise. This is called evidence.
Empathy has nothing to do with it when it comes to presenting an argument like this. When you grow up, you’ll understand this concept.
As above, if verbal abuse happened the children responsible should be held accountable for their actions, no matter the color of their skin. If you hear a rap song the are steady using negative lyrics describing people of color, but that’s acceptable in their eyes. It another double standard with the WOKE generation.
It is unfortunate for this student to have been treated this way and I would never want for any child (or anyone) to be subjected to racism. No student or person should EVER be discriminated against nor harrassed based on the color of their skin. There are, however, other issues that have been brought to light due to this student and her parents bringing it to the attention of the media, and now involving activist groups such as the NAACP. Why didn’t this student go get an administrator during this instead of taking it upon herself to handle it without assistance from an adult? Was she REALLY being singled out, because of her skin color, when in the video the victim was in the bleachers and the flags displayed on the gymnasium floor? It looked like there were several other students that were in between the student and the flags. If the racism, bullying, and harrassment had been SO BAD before this incident – to the point where the student had to cover marks on her skin because they were her way of dealing with this repeated behavior- why did the parents not go to our black Superintendent and report it? While politics should NOT be allowed in our schools, why does this student see a Trump flag and a “Back the Blue” flag as a blatant attack on the color of her skin?
So, do I empathize with a student who was racially bullied and harrassed? Absolutely, hands down. Any student who acts in such way should be dealt with accordingly. I believe most of us reading this would say the same. But I also think that most of us reading this story also question if this situation was brought to the media’s attention for another purpose. Could it be possible that this story is being used as another push of the political agenda that racism is still very strong and prevalent in our society? Perhaps is it another way for our government to infiltrate it’s citizens to fight against each other to cause more divisiveness and hatred amongst us?
November 2nd is coming up quick… what video is Kamala pushing in your church services?
She said – He said. That is why we investigate. Liars abound and the news goes wild. Be wise and wait for facts.
The same “mess” has been happening at Princeton School since integration. The same tactics. I experienced it, my children experienced it , my grandkids experienced it. When will it stop? Never until someone gets fed up. I hope somebody is fed up.
My child went to princeton school and she and another girl were in 5th grade and were doing nothing but delivering some papers for a teacher and 4 african american students that were older called them white cracker b’s and were bullying them for no reason what so ever and we were told that was not racist remarks and nothing was on the news or in the papers about those racial remarks and it was not the only time this door swings both ways racism should not be tolerated at all by anyone no matter the color of your skin
Race centric organizations promote racism. <PERIOD
When all else fails, you pull that card out of your deck.
Where is the School Board Chairman Todd Sutton at when there is a problem? What about Mike Wooten, where is he at when he could step in and shut down this kind of racial activity in his own backyard? The appointed Al Byrd has not even showed any concern for this poor innocent child of color, where are these “Squad of CRT Cults “ at? Look at the video can’t you all see the nightmare this child of color was being put through? Dear God folks, am I the only white cracker that is willing to come to the defense of this child of color?
I am a teacher and students have been wearing BLM mask forever. What is the difference? Also, it has become so common for students to say “racist” whenever they aren’t getting their way. Blacks call other blacks racist. By the way, I work at a predominantly minority school. Back in the day a student wore an I can’t breath t-shirt to school and the principal let it go because the mom threatened to call WRAL. It has to go both ways and the NAACP never makes anything better!
BLM masks and “I can’t breather” shirts are worn to express the support for black people being killed or treated unjust due to skin color. Trump flags and blue lives matter flags are waved in the face of the people wearying the BLM masks to discredit and fan the flame of hurt that black and brown people have gone through. If you are not racist or insensitive to what people of color go through then ask yourself why as a Trump supporter..you are not IN support of BLM? It’s fine to have support of law enforcement and support people being treated fair at the same time by law enforcement. It’s ok to love your country and not love what people who are viewed as heroes in our country have done and talk about it. People on both sides are frustrated and the luxury that one group has is to fight for things to remain the same…while the other has to fight to create change..the change is not to takeover your land or make your children feel bad about the color of their skin and how it got them further than others..it’s to get them to understand how others may have and still are going through due to what has and is taking place. I think the wrong thing for BLM supporters to do is call Trump supporters racist…They might not be..They just might be comfortable with the way things are and afraid that their quality of life will change for the worse if they embrace ppl of color and show empathy for what they go through…that’s exactly what Trump promoted to most of them to gain his support.
BLM — look at their actual page and get back with me. BLM has caused a ton of violence and if you support them, you are part of the problem! It doesn’t matter what I think, it is a controversial group and doesn’t belong in schools……period!
The question is have YOU read the actual page? Not some blog… The actual page has nothing hateful in it. BLM is not only about speaking out against racism..it also speaks out against mistreatment of women and other minorities that are affected by being mistreated. You see..the problem is some ppl got upset because the name and the media coverage on fox. With that said..I’m not saying that it belongs in schools. I’m saying that if you see black people in a school system complaining about racism then you should be more concerned about the culture in that school instead of reaching for excuses to talk down to the person complaining about it.
I actually went and reviewed the site again. It has changed a bit! It did not start out that way and still some of the principals are about putting one race ahead of another. It seems everything is racist these days. I am sure that girl got exactly what she wanted and that was to change schools! It appears that the aim is for segregation and not equal treatment. Not saying what happened was right, but let a white person go and rip a BLM out of someone’s hand they would probably go to jail for assault!
Also, memorializing criminals is as dumb as it gets! If you think that it is, again you are part of the problem. That is the problem. These young kids see criminals and athletes thinking they can play the “card” and make anything they do wrong go away. They are not who any kid should be looking up to!
If memorializing criminals is dumb then you need to do away with ALL of the founding fathers, the entire confederacy as well as EVERY president and or politician that owned slaves! You probably can’t see doing that now could you?
The main difference is that during that era, it was not illegal. Was it wrong? Yes. Adultery is wrong, but not illegal. Not so sure you want to argue this point. As for the others you mentioned, it is happening!
Why does a Trump flag equal racism??? FACT: There are blacks that voted for him! Anyway, I am just going to sit here and let the NAACP and JOCO make the news AGAIN! Also, NOTHING controversial should be paraded in the schools. It does cause tension and animosity. The political climate is way too controversial and divisive right now. There should be none of it. I do actual believe there is a policy that if it disrupts the learning environment it is prohibited. That means nothing about BLM, Biden, Trump, Blue Live Matter, etc. It has go go BOTH ways!