Students in South Carolina who made a video recreating and mocking George Floyd’s murder will not be allowed to return to school for the remainder of the academic year, officials announced this week.
The four people in question are all students at White Knoll High School in Lexington, per a report from the State, and shared the quickly condemned video to TikTok this past weekend. The suspension of the four individuals who made the video was first announced via an email to parents and other students.
In a subsequent public statement released on Wedneday, the Lexington County School District One team called the students’ actions “unacceptable and disturbing,” adding that such behavior has the potential to “negatively impact” the entire school.
“We strongly condemn the actions of these students,” Dr. Greg Little, the Lexington County superintendent, said. “Racism, in any form, will not be tolerated by our students or staff and will be addressed immediately.”
In addition to being barred from school, the students—whose names have not been released—will not be allowed to participate in any extracurricular activities for the remainder of the 2021/2022 academic year. School officials have also set up a range of support options for students and others who may be affected by the offending video.
As White Knoll High School principal Ted Daughtrey explained, the actions of these students shows “we still have work to do.” After the video was shared, a petition had been launched asking school officials to appropriately address the incident.
Complex has reached out to a rep for Lexington County School District One for additional comment.
In June, former Minneapolis cop Derek Chauvin was sentenced to 22 and a half years behind bars after being convicted on second-degree murder, third-degree murder, and second-degree manslaughter charges in the murder of George Floyd.
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