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Hateful, Racist Message Sent To Asian Youth Leadership Association At Whitney High School

ROCKLIN (CBS13) - An investigation is underway into the source of a racist rant sent to students in a Rocklin high school's Asian leadership group.

The message was sent from an anonymous account and contained a hateful cartoon image and an equally hateful message. It used an ethnic slur to refer to people of Chinese descent and "...aren't welcome at Whitney and y'all know it."

The message was sent last Friday to the group as well as individual students at the school. Just how many students received the message is unclear but students say it was shared widely outside of the club.

"Some kid making an account to spread hateful words about Asian American students at the school -- it's just very messed up," said Whitney sophomore Adryan Vazquez.

A parent of a student in the club told CBS13 about the message and says he's now concerned about his daughter's safety at the school.

Off-camera, club members -- from sophomores to seniors -- say that, in light of the recent rise in violent attacks on Asian Americans, this message was particularly frightening.

Ana Pruett, a senior at Whitney had not seen or heard about the message. She said she's horrified to learn some of her classmates received the message.

"I don't know where that would even come from or where people would get those ideas and that's a thing to say at all," she said.

Whitney High School Principal Justin Cutts sent an email to parents saying the school is aware of the anonymous message and is looking for information that could help with this investigation.

A statement from the district sent to CBS13 Tuesday afternoon said any student identified as sending or engaging in discriminatory activity will be disciplined, but doesn't specify exactly how.

 

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