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Authorities in Charlottesville, Virginia, arrested a teenager on Friday for an online threat against "specific ethnic groups" at the public high school, with the city's schools shut for the second day in a row.
A 17-year-old boy was arrested and charged in connection with the threat, which appeared to target black and Hispanic students.
The Charlottesville Public School District, which serves approximately 4,300 students from kindergarten to high school, shut down all campuses on Thursday and announced that schools would remain closed on Friday to prioritize student safety.
"We would like to acknowledge and condemn the fact that this threat was a racist charge," Charlottesville City Schools said in a message to the community. "We do not tolerate hatred or racism."
"All staff and the school board are supportive of our color students and people who have been chosen for reasons such as religion, ethnicity or sexual identity as part of their school career. other despicable threats throughout the country or the world, "says the message. continued. "We are in the same boat and a threat against one is a threat against all."
Chief RaShall M. Brackney of the Charlottesville Police Department said that two days of absence from school could have caused inconvenience, "the safety of our students and staff was the number one priority".
The following days of school closures occurred in a context of racial tension in Charlottesville, a city that was home to a deadly rally of white supremacy in 2017 and where resistance to Confederate statues has sparked a movement to suppress similar symbols in cities across the country.
The events of two years ago resulted in a radical overhaul of city leaders and forced questioning about how to address racial and economic disparities in Charlottesville, often considered a bastion of progressive South.
But the city is still struggling with deep inequities, including in its school system. Charlottesville City Schools, where students are 40% Caucasian, 30% Black and 12% Hispanic, has one of the largest disparities in educational disparity in the United States.
A Charlottesville police spokesman declined to specify details of the threat online, except to say that it contained "language based on bias" and "specific ethnic groups."
But the images posted on social media indicate that the threat was uttered on 4chan, an anonymous web forum where counter-cultural and offensive views proliferated. A user who claimed to be affiliated with Charlottesville High School had promised "ethnic cleansing in my school" and, using insults, was threatening to kill African Americans and Hispanics.
The authorities were informed of the threat on Wednesday afternoon and sought to determine its credibility before making an arrest around 6 am Friday.
The 17-year-old, who was not identified, was charged with the threat of serious injury on school grounds, as well as harassment.
While the hatred of white supremacy has long preceded sites like 4chan or Reddit, online platforms can create and reinforce extremist beliefs. And online extremist behavior has preceded real violence in recent cases.
Last week, the suspect in a mass shootout killing 50 people in mosques in New Zealand seemed to have planned the attack as an online performance. He teased his act on Twitter, announced it on the 8chan online bulletin board and seems to have put online a 74-page manifesto before spreading the massacre on Facebook.
Last year, hours before an armed man broke into a Pittsburgh synagogue and killed 11 people, the authorities said that he had published an ad on Gab, a social network that stands as a "freedom of expression" as an alternative to Facebook and a haven for white supremacists, neo-Nazis and other extremists.
In another case, the suspect accused of The sending of explosives to prominent Democrats last year seems to be being radicalized online.
School officials in Charlottesville announced Friday that they would return to the normal school schedule as soon as possible. In the meantime, they said the district was working with community groups to send pizzas and fruit to low-income students who usually received free meals at school.
In a statement, Superintendent Rosa Atkins said it was wise to exercise caution to protect students from a potential threat.
"A threat – credible or not – has a real impact," she said. "It affects you emotionally and your psyche. This leads people to question the safety of their school environment, which should be considered a sanctuary, a safe place for adults and students. "
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