Questions around who crafted a faux racist policy and spread it to students at Sacramento-area’s Rio Americano High School are swirling. The anti-Black message appears to come from the school’s website, but officials and students say the rhetoric used does not define them.
According to the Sacramento Bee, the image of the “District-Wide High School No Black People Policy” made its rounds on Facebook and Snapchat Wednesday night, sparking outrage from officials, students, and parents. In part, the memo read, “As of August 26, 2019 [expletive] otherwise known as swamp [expletive] will be prohibited from school premises for they form an inappropriate learning environment.” KCRA 3 says the memo from the “Anti N— Alliance” also went as far as claiming that the KKK will be patrolling the hallways.
Officials at the San Juan Unified School Districts say the photo is fake and never appeared on the actual school website, but that doesn’t change the fact that some students are still triggered.
“This is something that’s not funny. It’s something that should be taken seriously,” senior Jalen Taylor told reporters from CBS 13. “It’s already hard enough going to a majority white school, and having to deal with some stuff like this. It’s unacceptable,” Taylor continued.
A statement from district leaders to parents acknowledged Taylor’s sentiments saying, “This post is incredibly hurtful to our school community and our staff has been working diligently since discovering it to investigate.”
It continued, “We can confirm the message has been reported to and is being looked at by both the Sacramento County Sheriff’s Department and the FBI. We are committed to doing everything possible to determine the responsible party.”
Right now district leaders are predicting that the origins will be hard to confirm given that the post was not originally uploaded online.
In the meanwhile, the school says that a back-to-school rally featuring messages of acceptance is being planned for Friday. The school is asking local organizations to join them on Monday to welcome students to class.