GWINNETT COUNTY, Ga. — There is rising racial tension at a Gwinnett County high school.
It follows an incident where someone walked with a Confederate flag across the parking lot at Archer High School.
Then students took part in a sit-in.
Students and their parents say it started with a racially-charged social media post and what's happened since then is what they're hoping will lead to some sort of unity.
“All this hate and all these tweets and all this stuff and it's like, why is this happening now?” said student Amara Blaty.
Some students and parents agreed to have their kids talk to Channel 2 Action News on camera.
“It became divided. Almost, like, racially,” said one student who didn’t want to be identified. “We're walking around and we're scared and more alert than we should have to be.”
They say they want some peace at Archer High School.
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“We're doing this for unity. As a school, as a community,” said one student who also didn’t want to be identified.
Earlier this week, the administration acknowledged a student's racially-charged social media post that expressed disgust at the growing black student population.
“We need to stop making this such a deal between black and white and all that type of stuff. We need to be together,” Blaty said.
Following the social media post, a student was seen running with a Confederate flag through the school parking lot and a number of students either chose to sit-in or support the sit-in on Thursday morning during the Pledge of Allegiance.
"About 100 students non-violently protesting. It was completely non-violent,” said a third student who didn’t want to be identified.
Those pushing back with protests say they're sick of the cancer known as racism that seems to have infected their community in the past.
“That was years before. We can't have that once again,” Blaty said.
The students say the administration has been great about creating an open dialogue to air grievances but they're planning a blackout for Friday, meaning they'll be dressed in black to show solidarity.
Cox Media Group
