Michigan Teens Spark Outrage With TikTok Reenactment Video Of George Floyd's Killing
Michigan teens have sparked turmoil after creating a TikTok reenactment video of the death of George Floyd.
The Sterling Heights Stevenson students followed a TikTok trend, creating a police brutality video. In the video, the teens are seen seemingly mocking George Floyd’s death.
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The video was recorded at an off-campus football team breakfast, about a week ago.
In the video, ninth-grade students are seen wearing football jerseys and standing in a circle outside surrounding a Black student, who kneels on the ground. Wearing all black clothing and blindfolds, the student who is supposed to be George Floyd places his hands behind his back as if he’s been arrested. The white students point water guns at him.
“Shoot him in the head,” another student says.
As the video was being filmed, the adult hosting the get-together was inside preparing the team breakfast and had no idea the video was made.
A week later, a parent upset by the video, tipped off the school. Jaimie Nasceif, a concerned parent told Fox 2 that she is disappointed that content such as this is still happening.
“I can’t believe kids are doing this. I think it’s ridiculous, and something completely unacceptable,” Nasceif said.
Maya Hunko, a 16-year-old student at Stevenson protested Thursday in outrage at the video.
“It was a joke but it’s not funny,” she said. “We are a really diverse school but we don’t focus on cultural awareness.”
Officials at Stevenson high school issued the following statement to parents and students following the incident.
“In a case where a diverse group of students involved made a poor choice – regardless if their stated intent was not to deliberately harm or antagonize others – the school will use it to help students understand why this is offensive and harmful to the social fabric of our community,” the statement explained.
“I wouldn’t say that I’m threatened (by the video) but I think that it’s threatening,” Hunko said.
School officials said preliminary disciplinary action against the students involved was taken and the investigation continues.
