GWINNETT COUNTY, Ga. — Video posted to YouTube shows Duluth Middle School students hurling taunts at a classmate, because he is Sikh. Members of Atlanta's Sikh community say they hear taunts like this all the time, but this time it was caught on video.
Students can be heard chanting "Terrorist! Terrorist!" on cellphone video recorded on a school bus.
Video captured by a 12-year-old's cellphone shows back-and-forth name-calling between the victim and other students on a school bus. Eventually a girl can be heard yelling the word terrorist.
Some students complained about being recorded, but the victim said, "I can if you're being racist to me, mother f-----!"
Despite the victim's efforts to blow off the taunting, friends tell Channel 2's Tony Thomas the victim has been deeply affected.
"They were just making fun of it, and it was pointless," says student Dustin Dorminy. The victim in this video is Sikh, a religion in which followers wear turbans.
"We are all hurt because of what happened, including him and his family," said Aasees Kaur, a Sikh and family friend of the victim.
Gwinett County Public Schools will not identify the children involved, and said in a statement, "The school has concluded its investigation, and has taken appropriate disciplinary action with the students who were involved."