SARASOTA, Fla. -- A promposal described as racist brought the issue of racial tensions at Riverview High School to light, and now more images are coming out.
Students say they were finding offensive remarks before this promposal.
10News received video of a racial slur that the sender found in a bathroom at Riverview. There was also a message written on a wall: “sink only allowed for the white.”
“I think kids and staff have realized how big this is how big racism is … how much of a problem it is. I’ve had kids speak out and say this is not OK, we need to change this,” said Erin Williams, 18, a senior at Riverview High School.
Williams is the student who shared the student’s promposal photo that said, "If I was black I'd be picking cotton, but I'm white so I'm picking u 4 prom?" It was shared nearly 12,000 times before Facebook removed it.
But by then, Williams' message was out and the Sarasota County school district started taking steps to improve race relations.
“We need to hit this head on and shut it down and have roundtable discussions around the entire school district,” said Trevor Harvey, president of the NAACP Sarasota chapter.
He will lead the roundtable discussions starting with Riverview High on Monday. Students will help shape a district-wide program on race relations starting with administrators.
Williams says she’s personally experienced administrators not addressing race-related student complaints.
She will sit in on the roundtable discussion and will have a message for administrators: “When things like this happen. don’t bury your head in the sand. When we reach out to you, you grab our hand. Don’t turn the other way. Don’t say you’ll take care of it then don’t.”
If Williams' allegations are true, Harvey says the NAACP will ask the district to remove those school administrators.
“We cannot allow students to be put in a toxic environment where administrators say, 'Oh it’s no big deal,'" he said. "It is a big deal.”
“If there are people someone looking the other way, we need to address that immediately as well,” said Bridget Ziegler, chairwoman of the Sarasota School Board.
Ziegler said the district needs to take an honest look at what is happening in schools.
“This may be a bigger systemic issue we need to address this it’s an opportunity for our district to grow and learn,” she said.
The student responsible for the promposal will not return to school or attend prom or graduation.
The district is still investigating but Williams said the district should not discipline him because he's been punished enough.
The first roundtable discussion is on Monday, but a time has not been set.
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