DeKalb County

Video appears to show metro Atlanta high school student waving gun, using racial slur

DECATUR, Ga. — A racially-charged video is getting a serious reaction from a local school superintendent and parents.

The video, posted a day after George Floyd’s death, shows a student at Decatur High School waving what appears to be a gun and using a racial slur. The video has been viewed nearly 5 million times on social media and has parents upset.

“Pow, Pow. Pow. I use this to kill (racial slur),” the student said in the video.

This is not the first incident in which white Decatur High School students posted racist videos on social media.

Decatur City Schools Superintendent David Dude posted an angry message on Facebook, demanding this sort of behavior stop.

"I am angry, disgusted, heartbroken, and so many other things," Dude wrote. "For a Decatur High School student to think it's OK to make a statement like that, regardless of context, is completely unacceptable."

The Decatur Police said Thursday afternoon that a police report has been generated and criminal investigators are currently investigating the case.

I am at a loss for words, so I am going to share my unvarnished thoughts tonight. I am angry, disgusted, heartbroken,...

Posted by Superintendent David Dude on Wednesday, May 27, 2020

Channel 2′s Tom Jones was at Decatur High School, where parents are upset about this video and all the other racial incidents involving students at the school.

Dee Jai Speller, a parent, posted the video to social media.

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"I was upset. I was highly upset," Speller said.

Kai Jackson-Issa agrees.

“I think it’s outrageous. I think it was very frightening,” Jackson-Issa said. “He explicitly threatened the lives of black people.”

Speller said her daughter doesn't want to go back to DHS when it reopens. She said the school district has to send a message and that the student, who hasn't been identified, should face charges.

"I feel like if the tables had been turned and it was a child of color, he would have been expelled and arrested," Speller said.

Jackson-Issa said her daughter knows the student in the video, which makes it all the more painful.

"It's especially hurtful to pass someone in the hallway you think might be a friend, might be an acquaintance, and see this," Jackson-Issa said. "My daughter was very outraged, frustrated. It was just one more assault."

Dude offered his deepest apologies to African American students at the school and their families. He also called on parents of all students to talk to their children and let them know that racism won’t be tolerated in their homes or at school.