BLOOMFIELD HILLS, Mich. (WXYZ) — Tension is brewing at Bloomfield Hills High School after a handful of racist messages were shared among students on social media.
School administrators held a meeting Tuesday night inviting the community to air out their concerns. Both students and parents say something needs to change.
Some parents are event threatening a class-action lawsuit over this, and students walked out in protest on Friday over racist graffiti, but the threats continued to surface into this week. They say they don't feel safe and they want the school to take this seriously.
"This 2021 or is this 1959, it's unacceptable, totally unacceptable in 2021," Derek Albert, a parent, said.
Racist threats against Black students were circulating on social media and plastered across the bathroom wall.
The blatantly hateful acts had Albert questioning if his daughter is safe at the school.
"If you have messages that say kill all Black people, what are you doing about that threat?" he asked. "Have you addressed the student body to say in the event that something happens, this is the plan to evacuate the building, this is the plan, this is the safety measures in place, nothing has been told to us"
The district held a community meeting on Tuesday to hear what parents had to say and express their deepest apologies for what happened.
"Students were harmed under my watch, and for that, I am sorry," the principal said.
Police and the schools say they are investigating the messages, but a lot of parents don't think that's enough.
Trek Carethers' daughter is a student at the school, and he said they are prepared to take drastic measures.
"We need the state to come in. I've already contacted the department of education's civil rights division to come in, and if the district doesn't want to move, we'll file a lawsuit against them because Title 6 funding is at play, taxpayer dollars is at play, and our safety is at play," Albert said.
Carethers said he didn't attend the meeting to point fingers. He's here because students, including his daughter, deserve to feel safe.
"I'm not here to demand the expulsion of any particular student. Why I'm here is we want change, we want effective change, that's why I'm here," he said.
Administrators didn't want to be interviewed after the meeting and said due to privacy laws, they can't discuss if anyone will be punished for the messages.
Police are asking anyone with information to come forward.
