Racial threat made on Snapchat sparks controversy at local high school

FOX 32 NEWS - Earlier this week, a racist and threatening Snapchat began circulating through the halls of Niles North High School.

"It had a big effect on the students. I think a lot of people feared for their safety. People began to contact the administration after they saw this and especially when they realized this student was already back at school,” said student Geoffrey Schmelzer.

The students say their classmate responsible for the social media post was suspended for just a day. Niles North High School did not comment or confirm that. But the school did say it already had planned a protest in honor of ‘Stand Against Racism Day.’

However, more student decided to walk out Friday afternoon because they say the punishment wasn't severe enough.

"How do you just get suspended for one day for saying something like that? And we didn't even get notified that something like that was said,” said student Farrah Westby.

In a statement, the school does not give the reason why its students walked out a second time, only saying, "The student organizers made the following statement: We came together in unity to show that together, we can organize against inequity, racism and other forms of injustice. We the students have the power to elicit change. We are the future and we are committed to continue to work toward equity at Niles North."

Students who chose to walk out of school say they wanted to make their statement clear to the school administration.

"I feel very threatened and that's why I don't feel like he should've gotten one day. Things that other people do that are way less, and they get a week or 10 days or some amount that's too much,” said student Azjahnae Thomas.