Six middle school students in Western Massachusetts face criminal charges stemming from alleged “hate speech” and “race-based bullying” in social media posts.
Authorities charged all six Grade 8 students at Southwick Regional School with threats to commit a crime, two with interference with civil rights, and one with witness interference.
On Feb. 15, Hampden County District Attorney Anthony Gulluni held a press conference to announce formal charges against the youths.
Mr. Gulluni said in the videotaped conference that his office found sufficient evidence to pursue criminal charges against the minors, who allegedly participated in a “hateful, racist online chat that included heinous language, threats, and a mock slave auction.”
He said that authorities would not release the names and identities of the students because of their age. It is also unclear whether all six students are white.
The alleged incident involved a group chat on the social media application Snapchat on Feb. 8 and Feb. 9.
“This discussion involved multiple juveniles,” Mr. Gulluni said, during which the students allegedly expressed “notions of violence toward people of color,” “racial slurs,” “derogatory pictures and videos,” and a mock “slave auction” directed at two juveniles “known to them.”
After a review of the evidence, Mr. Gulluni said the school suspended the six students on Feb. 12 for “emergency removal per state law.
Mr. Gulluni said he has met with the victims and their families and “aims to hold accountable those who committed provable criminal acts.”
“With this, I intend to be very clear. Hatred and racism have no place in this community. Where this behavior becomes criminal, I will ensure that we act and act with swift resolve, as we did here to uncover and bring it to the light of justice.”
He cited a 2021 report by the Federal Government Accountability Office that estimated 5.2 million students between the ages of 12 and 18 endured bullying during the 2018-19 school year.
Of those, one in four incidents was related to race, national origin, physical disability, gender, or sexual orientation, Mr. Gulluni said.
“Bullying, especially when it involves race, is an insidious force within a school community and a community at large. It is also deeply damaging to victims who experience harassment, abuse, and humiliation.”
“There is no question that the alleged behavior in this case—of these six juveniles—is vile, cruel, and contemptible.”
He said it was discouraging that such an incident could happen in 2024.
“We intend to appropriately punish those whose alleged behavior displayed a capacity for such hatred and cruelty and amounted to chargeable criminal conduct.”
“We must also acknowledge that this incident is not, and will not be, the only one of its kind. It is a reality that we cannot ignore.”
According to a 2015 Gallup poll, Americans viewed race relations “much more negatively” than they have at any point in the past two decades.
Forty-seven percent of those polled said relations between blacks and whites are “very good or ”somewhat good, a steep decline from 70 percent in 2013.”
“Whites’ positive ratings of black-white relations since 2013 have nose-dived by 27 percentage points, from 70 percent to 45 percent, while blacks show a smaller but still sizable drop of 15 points, from 66 percent to 51 percent.”
Racially motivated instances of violence in U.S. schools in recent months have focused on awareness of a growing national divide.
On Nov. 15, 2023, a 15-year-old white male student at Shawnee Mission East High School in Kansas allegedly severely beat a black female student after using a racial slur and shoving her.
Police charged the male student with unlawfully, feloniously, and knowingly causing great bodily harm to another person or disfigurement.
On March 8, a black female student at Hazelwood East High School in Missouri allegedly beat a white female student during an altercation, slamming the victim’s head into the pavement.
The victim suffered severe head injuries and remained in critical condition at a local hospital.
According to Yahoo! News, Missouri Attorney General Andrew Bailey wants the alleged assailant tried as an adult.
“This evil and complete disregard for human life has no place in Missouri or anywhere,” Mr. Bailey wrote on X, formerly Twitter.
“I am praying for the victim. The criminal should be charged and tried as an adult. If the victim dies, that offense should rise to a homicide.”
In light of the Southwick incident, Mr. Gulluni said his office hopes to “foster progress” using a “proactive approach to teach children about empathy, compassion, and fairness.”
He said that social media influence, “left unchecked in the hands of children, can have the opposite effect.”
The district attorney proposed three “forward-looking steps” to confront the problem of online bullying to prevent future harm. These include instructing a community safety and outreach unit to deliver a school curriculum “around the issue of hate and bullying within the Southwick community.”
Step two would form a partnership with the Massachusetts Attorney General’s office to create a specific program to address and remediate the “more harmful forces of bigotry, racism, and bullying in our schools.”
The third step would involve partnering with a newly formed Hate Crimes Unit of the state police, “jointly instruct police departments and school personnel across western Massachusetts best practices regarding hate crimes and bullying in schools,” Mr. Gulluni said.
“While I am optimistic these initiatives will have a meaningful influence, I implore everyone to take their steps to fight racism and bullying.”
Jennifer Willard, superintendent of the Southwick-Tolland-Granville Regional School District, has yet to respond to an email from The Epoch Times seeking comment for this story.
Southwick (population 9,234) is 89.9 percent white, 5.9 percent Hispanic, and 1.3 percent black, according to state population data.
