Grosse Pointe South Officials Talk Action, Punishment After Students' Racist Video Hits Social Media

Controversy stirred at Grosse Pointe South High School Thursday as administrators reached out to families in the wake of a weekend incident in which a handful of students recorded and shared a racist video.

The clip's featured verbal abuse marks the second such sentiments publicly expressed by Grosse Point South students in recent months. Among other mentions, the weekend recording a teen discussing plans to enslave black peers in exchange for alcohol, according to one ABC7 News article, which includes a letter sent home to parents.

“This incident further affirms the need for our continued discourse around diversity, inclusion and race relations,” Principal Moussa Hamka said in the correspondence. “With these topics in mind, we have had sustained dialogue that began in March and will continue well into the future.”

Hamka was referencing the March suspension of four Grosse Point South students — a punishment handed down after a picture showing them with racial slurs scrawled on their stomachs popped up on social media platforms. The weekend’s video, too, surfaced on social media. Hamka did not provide details about what it included.

Detroit News reporters interviewed Greg Bowens, president of the NAACP’s Grosse Pointe-Harper Woods branch, in their Thursday report on the incident. He has watched the video and said it features teens sitting on a couch, “talking about getting rid of African-Americans.”

A Fox 2 News report specifies that the recording shows students sharing desires to, "burn black people, make them slaves, and send them back to Africa.”

“It’s better that they learn this lesson now than having to learn it five or 10 years from now when what’s on the line is their job, career, livelihood ... and reputation,” Bowens told Detroit News.

Administrators were still discussing consequences for the teens’ "deplorable" actions on Thursday afternoon, Hamka said. Meanwhile, weekly meetings and planning sessions are under way with students from the school’s Black Awareness Society for Education club.