Carmel School Officials Must Act on Threatening Racist TikTok Videos
Opinion Advocates for ideas and draws conclusions based on the author/producer’s interpretation of facts and data.
The recent racist, threatening TikTok videos created by Carmel High School students bring the Carmel Central School District (CCSD) back into the spotlight for all the wrong reasons.
In 2021, the school was thrust into national media headlines thanks to a viral video in which a CCSD parent railed against “critical race theory” being taught in the schools, which soon morphed into anti-LGBTQ+ and anti-Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI) battles at the school board. It featured parents and community members who claimed that staff in the schools were attempting to indoctrinate children, and that teaching Black history, celebrating diversity or honoring a child’s identity is somehow harmful to children. We should, therefore, not be surprised when these children manifest the ideology that has been clearly articulated by parents and given credence by the schools.
Now, we have videos that mimic the precursor manifestos made by school shooters around the country in which blatantly racist threats that clearly meet the definition of criminal hate speech or a hate crime in their specificity were all but swept under the rug until parents forced school officials’ hand.
Despite specific threats referencing bringing guns to school and killing Black and brown children – in a country where such threats are acted out to the tune of 51 incidents in 2022 and seven as of February in 2023 – the Sheriff’s Department continues to claim there’s nothing more that can or needs to be done to protect kids. This is hardly surprising either, considering our current sheriff was sued for racist employment practices while serving as chief of the MTA police and proudly participated as a guest on the YouTube program “Cops Off the Cuff,” in which panelists engaged in overtly racist conversation and pined for the days when officers were allowed to beat civilians with impunity.
If the sheriff and school want the community to trust them, as indicated by their statements on this matter, they need to take real action and be transparent about their findings. The community deserves to know if the parents of these children own guns and what their stated motivations were. Regardless of the kids’ intentions, a temporary suspension and dismissiveness about parents’ concerns will not inspire confidence. The school must also actually deliver on the Board of Education’s and superintendent’s claims that they are interested in changing the school’s culture and admitting that racist bullying and targeting of minority groups is a problem in the CCSD.
The school must push back against parents and staff who encourage and accept this culture and who continue to resist change, and proudly embrace DEI rather than capitulating to the bullies.
Eileen McDermott
Brewster
Putnam NY Pride
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