A  hate crime investigation launched was launched at Monroe High School located in Monroe, Washington two students were involved in an altercation led to a Black student being hit over the head with a plastic bottle after allegedly being called the N-word repeatedly. The incident occurred last Wednesday, Nov. 10, before lunchtime, when a white student was heard in a video hurling racial slurs.

The news outlet said that at one point during the incident, the white student unidentified hasn’t been made public, hit the other in the head with a plastic water bottle. Ryan says a third student tried to defuse the situation, before a school officer stepped in. Monroe High School principal Brett Wille sent out letters to parents letting them know school administration was working with law enforcement during the investigation.

“It is with great sadness that I write to let you know about an incident that occurred today at Monroe High School involving racial slurs and aggression towards a Black/African American student,” Wille wrote.

“This incident occurred in the parking lot during lunch time and was witnessed by a handful of other students, was video recorded, and was possibly shared on social media. It also resulted in additional police presence on campus and we are partnering with law enforcement in their investigation of this incident” the letter continued.

Monroe School Board member Jeremiah Campbell told reporters that he had a “visceral knot in my stomach” over the incident. “I am horrified that any student would have to deal with any level of racism,” he said. “To say things like that — I have no words.”

In a survey conducted by a student-led Monroe Inclusion Collective found that, out of 89 respondents, over 57 percent had experienced racism in the district the news outlet reported.  The report said that the incidents were most likely to happen outside the classroom but on school grounds, much like what took place last week.

An alarming 82 percent of those respondents says they didn’t report their incident to administration or higher up. The students who did report mistreatment, approx. 82 percent says they didn’t feel safe after placing their complaints. Melanie Ryan board president of the Monroe Equity Council told Los Angeles Blade, “All of those students and their families have continually expressed ongoing issues of bullying and harassment and various types of incidents that just haven’t been adequately addressed by the district.”

“What will ultimately decide whether we progress or not is going to likely be the students themselves. The students will have a powerful ability to put pressure within this system to say we don’t accept this anymore” she added.

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