MLK DAY HATE CRIME: White Kansas High School Students Write “N*gger,” Draw Swastikas in Vicious Vandalism Act

Overland Park, KS – While most were celebrating the life of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and his legacy of radical resistance against hateful white supremacy and violent anti-Blackness, a number of white students at Blue Valley High School in Kansas snuck into the school’s football stadium press box to commit a vicious hate crime.

The unidentified white students spray painted the walls with hate speech and symbols including “Nigger,” a swastika, homophobic slurs, satanic symbols, profanity and explicit images, as well as hateful remarks mentioning George Floyd.

A school resource officer confirmed that a “destruction of property” report had been made on Monday afternoon.

“I don’t wanna hear any apology from the ‘parents’ and these ‘students’ need to be charged as adults and get more than expulsion,” a Kansas City parent responded on social media.

The school district confirmed yesterday evening that the principal shared the following statement to students and staff;

“I am reaching out to you today with extremely upsetting news. This morning we learned the Blue Valley High School football stadium and press box were vandalized overnight. The vandalism includes the destruction of property, graphic images and vulgar and racially offensive language. Hate like this has no place at Blue Valley High and is not representative of our Tiger community.”

Many social media users are asking why the event is being investigated as a “vandalism” and “destruction of property” incident rather than as a hate crime.

Blue Valley District’s History of White Supremacy in Schools

The Blue Valley School District is no stranger to racist events. In years past it has been a bastion of white supremacy particularly regarding school board leadership. In 2021, far-right extremists Kaety Bowers and Jim McMullen were elected to the school board – both were endorsed by the 1776 Project PAC.

The 1776 Project Pac’s Founder, Ryan Girdusky, has been quoted as saying “racial equity in schools is a dumbing down of our standards.”

Maurice Cunningham, a retired assistant professor of political science at the University of Massachusetts Boston, who is also an expert on dark money and has been closely monitoring the emergence of groups like the 1776 Project Pac, told the Daily Beast that “K-12 educators have faced plenty of challenges, particularly in the last year. This is a new kind of method of intimidation and attack.”

In a district whose top leadership is pushing hateful and inaccurate white supremacist reforms, it should come as no surprise when such vicious attacks and vandalism occur such as that which did on Dr. King Day.

The culprits of this Hate Crime are not only the students who committed the act, but the leadership that has normalized and enabled the proliferation of white supremacy in the district.

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