WASHINGTON — A video showing a large group of white students singing lyrics, including offensive terms, and banging on the ceiling of the railcar has gotten the attention of many on Twitter, including a D.C. private school.
Two videos of the large group of teens were posted on Twitter Thursday evening.
"What is this mess on my train?!" said José Romero, who posted the video. The user followed it up with a second video calling out Landon School, a private college preparatory all-male school in Bethesda.
"They just got off at Union Station," Romero tweeted."[Landon School] control your students lol."
The song the boys appear to be singing is Freestyle by Lil Baby, which contains lyrics repeatedly using the n-word, which Romero claims the boys didn't shy away from using.
(Editor's Note: Due to the age of the teens in the video, WUSA9 has opted not to link to the tweets)
WUSA9 reached out to Landon School Thursday night to ask if school personnel were aware of the video. The following day we received a statement from the school.
"We expect our students to follow our Civility Code inside and outside the classroom," Director of Communications Meredith Josef wrote.
Landon School also responded to the video in a statement posted on Instagram Friday. The school said they are deeply concerned by the video and the students' behavior on the D.C. Metro, calling their conduct and the offensive words unacceptable and antithetical to the school's values and Civility Code.
"We absolutely do not condone or tolerate the behavior displayed in this video, and we deeply regret the hurt it has caused. We are looking into the matter," the statement reads. "As we begin the school year, we look forward to continuing our work to build in our boys the characteristics of respect, honor, and kindness that are so essential in preparing the next generation."
Romero said they were African-American riders on the train at the same time the students sang the word too.
“There was a young African American girl sitting in front of me and the look on her face, like her jaw was just open, like in shock of what she was seeing and hearing,” he said.
Romero said he appreciated one of the students yelling to tell others in the group to stop. However, he said shortly after, some of the students began to laugh.
“They really trivialized what they did,” Romero said. “They knew it was bad and laughed about it and then went on to another song.”
Romero said he spoke with Landon’s dean of students about the incident for 10 minutes on Friday. He said the administrator told him the school was continuing to investigate the incident and that it had already identified two students in the video.
He added he believes this can be a teaching moment for Landon and its students.
“It does make you wonder what kind of bubble these kids have been raised in,” he said. “A lot of it is probably ignorance, they don't realize what they're saying. They haven't been taught that. They haven't grown up around minorities or people of color.”
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