1, 2, 3, 4 how many niggers are in my store. This is a school bus in Montgomery County MD. This is the racism my da… https://t.co/sq2ZW8Q1zC
A Maryland middle school is taking disciplinary action against a group of students who were recorded Tuesday chanting a racial slur on their school bus.
The video was recorded by a 13-year-old black girl who was sitting on the bus along with her classmates from the Robert Frost Middle School in Montgomery County.
The girl's father, Brandon Long, posted the video on Twitter, saying, "1,2,3,4 how many niggers are in my store. This is a school bus in Montgomery County MD. This is the racism my daughter hears."
In a YouTube post, Long said that his daughter came home "distraught" after listening to her fellow students chant the racial epithet. He said Facebook had removed his original post after it received more than 300,000 views.
Long said that his daughter only caught the "tail end" of the chant. According to Long and school officials, the bus driver stopped the bus and addressed the
students involved in the chant.
In a letter sent to parents and teachers, and provided to BuzzFeed News, Joey Jones, the school's principal, said, "This behavior is both offensive, inappropriate, and does not reflect the positive values of our students and our school community."
An investigation into the incident revealed that "a diverse group of students including students who are African American, Latino, and Asian were involved in saying the chant," Jones' letter said.
Disciplinary action would be taken against the students involved, he said.
According to Jones, the chant was based "on a social media video that addresses issues of racial profiling." He appeared to be referring to this popular 2013 Vine in which four black teenagers in a convenience store mock their surveillance by the store clerk.
Jones said that this "upsetting" experience would be used as a "teachable moment for our community."
"As an African-American educator, this incident is personally very disturbing and we must address this incident and issues of race so we all can move forward together," Jones said.