Students sing racist song on Montgomery County school bus, video goes viral
WASHINGTON - A video uploaded to Facebook has gone viral after a group of Montgomery County middle school students were heard chanting disturbing lyrics on the bus ride to school.
The video has caused outrage, saddened hearts and concern amongst many parents. One father in particular, B. Jamar Long, took to social media to voice his concerns.
Long’s daughter, a student at Robert Frost Middle School in Rockville, was on the bus Tuesday when the incident occurred and she recorded the students. Long uploaded the video to his Facebook page. It has been viewed over 172,000 times and over 10,000 shares.
In the caption of the video, Long states, “So our daughter had to experience racism today on her school bus from Robert Frost Middle School in Montgomery County MD. They are singing 1,2,3,4 how many n****** are in my store. I am outraged and I refuse to let this slide. Please help me make this viral. Repost everywhere!”
Montgomery County Public Schools are investigating the video.
In a statement from the Senior Communications Specialist of the Department of Public Information and Web Services of Montgomery County Public Schools:
Montgomery County Public Schools explained the students were actually quoting a Vine video that was actually made to draw attention to racial profiling in stores.
School officials said the students will be disciplined.
“In their minds, they think it’s funny,” said Frost principal Dr. Joey Jones. “They just think it’s funny. Certainly, when you use that word, it is offensive to most people and it certainly makes people feel uncomfortable. So again, we are going to use this as a teachable moment to share with our students so we can understand each other and learn more about each other’s cultures and be able to move forward.”
The school also sent out a letter home to parents Wednesday afternoon saying: