Protest At Eastern Technical HS After Racist Picture Appears On Social Media

BALTIMORE (WJZ) -- A social media post from a student at Eastern Technical High School in Essex Wednesday got a lot of attention from students and staff when it went viral overnight.

The motto at Eastern Tech is a school of innovation. That's why some students can't believe they're still dealing with racism.

The post contained a racial epithet written in the sand of a baseball diamond. A caption added to the photo says "baseball is a white mans sport."

It is pictured above, with the epithet blurred.

This morning, more than 200 students held a peaceful protest in the lobby of the school to express their discontent with the post, according to D. Mychael Dickerson, a spokesman for Baltimore County Schools.

"The principal and staff decided to allow the students of all races and ethnic cities to come together for a peaceful protest to speak out to what they saw as blatantly racist," Dickerson says.

"They just claim that it was a joke, but this type of stuff is not really a joking matter,"one student says.

"This is 2017. How is there still so much hate in the world," says student Broch Barnett.

Officials cannot give specifics, but they say the student involved has been disciplined.

"The thing I'm mad about is, it's making the kids upset that are trying to get educated and it's not fair," says parent Kenny Bryant.

"I don't think our kids should be subjected and deal with these types of things on a daily basis. This is definitely not the first thing that has happened at E.T. That has been racially sparked," says parent Tara McCoy.

Dickerson says he thinks this is a good opportunity for parents to talk to their kids about the appropriate use of social media.

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