An investigation is officially being launched after a young African American student was beat up by his white classmates in a Florida middle school. There is a video of the fight inside the R.W. Blake Academy locker room which has now gone viral. At one point in the video, one of the white students gets on top of the black student and punches him repeatedly after throwing him over one of the benches. One student in the background of the video could be heard trying to break up the fight, however, another one quickly replied, “Let them fight.”
The black student is a 7th grader who has only been in the school for a little over a month. His parents, Brandon and Lauren Springfield, were originally told that what happened was just a “scuffle”, however, they soon got a hold of the video and found out it was more. "I have tried to be very respectful about this, because, obviously, running a school district is hard," Lauren Springfield said according to the Tampa Bay Times.
One of the young boys on the offensive side has been charged with misdemeanor simple battery and was suspended from school for 10 days. Other students who were involved are also being punished accordingly. Was race involved? The superintendent of the district, Jacqueline Byrd, said that she can’t know for sure and added that, "It shouldn’t happen to any kid. No kid should come to school and that happen to them.” The P.E. teacher, who has an office in close proximity to the locker room, is also being investigated on his whereabouts during the fight.
[Via]