Missouri school officials said a non-white student confessed this week to scrawling a racist message on a girls’ bathroom mirror, causing unrest at a St. Louis-area high school.

The controversial phrase, “White Lives Matter,” followed by the N-word was discovered on a girls’ bathroom mirror at Parkway Central High School in Chesterfield on Nov. 15.

In a statement Tuesday, Parkway School District Superintendent Keith Marty said that while the student who eventually confessed to the graffiti is “not white,” the negative impact his or her actions have had on the community remains.

“The behavior was wrong and the student will be held accountable for this serious act according to our student discipline policy,” Mr. Marty said in the statement, adding that “it is important to understand why this happened and why we are often quick to assume who is responsible,” the St. Louis Post-Dispatch reported.

In an email to the “PCH Community,” the school’s principal, Timothy McCarthy, said the racist graffiti caused “significant harm” and provoked “feelings of hurt and distrust” among students.

“The use of the N-word, in the context of the message on the bathroom mirror, provoked feelings of hate, not love,” he said, a local CW affiliate reported. “As I stated last week, actions and speech which degrade an individual’s human dignity have no place in school; they have no place at Central High.

“As we move forward, our efforts will be focused on repairing the harm we have experienced while deepening our sense of community,” he said. “Understanding, respect and love will continue to be our guideposts. These are the values inherent in any successful and healthy school community; I believe these are the values we share within the PCH community.”

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