By: Victoria Mitchell | Royal Oak Review | Published November 10, 2016

A video showing students chanting, "Build the wall," at Royal Oak Middle School has gone viral on Facebook. Photo by Victoria Mitchell



ROYAL OAK — Royal Oak Schools Superintendent Shawn Lewis-Lakin released a statement in response to an incident that went viral via Facebook video of a small group of Royal Oak Middle School students chanting, “Build the wall,” the day after Donald Trump was elected president.

The mantra became popular during the Trump campaign regarding his plans on immigration to build a wall between the United States and Mexico.

“We are committed to providing a safe, secure and supportive learning environment for all students. We addressed this incident when it occurred. We are addressing it today. We are working with our students to help them understand the impact of their words and actions on others in their school community,” Lewis-Lakin said in the statement.

The statement went on to say, “Our school district and each building in it works every day to be a welcoming community for all, inclusive and caring, where all students know they are valued, safe and supported.”

Royal Oak Police Department Criminal Investigations Division Lt. Keith Spencer said the department did send officers to the school Nov. 10.

“We are aware of that video and did have officers at the school this morning,” Spencer said. “We received some calls from concerned parents about the comments that were made in response to that video.”

The chant happened Nov. 9 during the seventh-grade lunch period.

As of the morning of Nov. 10, the post had nearly 1 million views, 3,500 comments and was shared 24,088 times.

The post from Dee Perez-Scott said, “This happened today at Royal Oak Middle School in Royal Oak Michigan. It is so sad. Latino children were crying. The taunts, the ‘Build that Wall’ with such bullying power and hate from children to children. Just Horrifying!”

As of press time, the video was removed, but not before it was widely shared.

She attached the video showing the chant coming from what appears to be a small group in the lunchroom.

Comments on the post ranged from those horrified by the implications it has on minority students to those defending Trump’s proposed policies, to someone saying they were shocked this would happen in Royal Oak, a community known for supporting liberal views.

In the video’s absence, Perez-Scott wrote: “The bullying and racial profiling didn’t start 3 days ago when this video was posted. The bullying has been going on for weeks/months. The bullying has to stop. The parents of the bullied students went to the administrators for weeks and were promised they ‘took care of it.’ However the bullying continued. The only time the bullying-racial profiling was actually addressed was when the video was posted to FB.”

Parent Jennifer Tesch said she wants it known this is not the first time students have been bullied in the school because of race. She supports the district and the school, but said racial bullying must stop, and she hopes this will bring change.

“I generally love the district completely,” she said last week. “I think they are a great school system. I think their education level is great. I just don’t know why this hasn’t been handled differently.”

But Tesch said this is not one community’s problem.

“This is not just the Royal Oak district. I don’t want it to seem like we are such a horrible district,” she said. “This is happening nationwide. It is a districtwide, statewide, nationwide problem.”

Tesch said the district should use this as a valuable teaching moment about racism and bigotry, which is a nationwide dialogue right now.

The mom is not satisfied with a statement sent by the superintendent and a video message by the principal saying all kids would be talked to throughout the day in various classes about what happened.

In the video message played throughout the school on Nov. 10, Royal Oak Middle School Principal Todd Noonan said the incident was unacceptable and that everyone is welcome in their community of learners.

“We build bridges, we work together, we push each other, respect each other, we help each other. This is who we are,” he said.

Noonan discussed what role the incident will play in their growth.

“Let’s learn from our worst and grow to be our best,” he said.

At the conclusion of his YouTube video, the principal invited teachers and other educators in the building to join the students for lunch for meaningful discussions about what happened.

As of press time, it was not known if anyone would be reprimanded for the incident. An adult was shown in the video while the chant occurred.

“Because of the strong emotions and intensity of rhetoric that the posting of this incident to social media has elicited, we have had families express concern regarding student safety,” Lewis-Lakin stated. “Know that we work with our partners in law enforcement on responding to any and all threats that have been or will be made involving our students or schools.”

Lewis-Lakin went on to say, “Indeed, in responding to this election — we need to hear each other’s stories, not slogans, we need to work towards understanding, not scoring points, and we need to find a way to move forward that respects and values each and every member of our community.

“We will be working on this in school today. Please work on this with us.”

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