NEW KENT COUNTY, Va. (WRIC/WBTW) — New Kent County officials are looking into an incident involving a student who allegedly wrote an offensive and racist note that was later given to two African-American classmates.

Two New Kent High School students allegedly received a letter that read “Go Home N***er” while eating lunch Wednesday. The teens, who spoke with News13’s sister station WRIC 8News exclusively, but did not want to be identified, agree that a message containing the derogatory language is both unacceptable and upsetting.

“It shows the racism in New Kent in 2019.”

The hateful message was a disappointing moment for the teens, who say they don’t know how to move forward.

“I just want all this to be over with.”

One of the students described the incident to 8News, saying “one of the kids from another table brought over a box, and in the box was a paper and he told me it was from another student.”

The student opened the letter and was shocked and hurt to learn what was written inside.

“If we were to do something about, like them, saying the words, we would have consequences,” one student said.

“So, you feel like it’s a no-win scenario almost for you all?” 8News asked.

“Yeah.”

8News spoke with the mother of one of the students who was given the offensive letter. She reached out to the school’s principal about the note and told 8News the incident was brushed off as a joke.

“It’s pretty sad that’s how it is,” her son told 8News. “It needs to stop.”

She adds that additional threats were made towards her son, prompting her to get an emergency protective order.

“It’s not surprising, it’s a school full of white people,” the student said. “Maybe 10 percent of the school is black. I guess they feel like since the whole school is white, they don’t have to worry about black people ending their word choices.”

8News reached out to New Kent County’s superintendent following the incident:

There will be consequences in accordance with our rights and responsibilities handbook.  This type of behavior is not okay in any form and will not be tolerated in our schools.

NEW KENT SUPERINTENDENT BRIAN NICHOLS

But students who spoke with 8News said they aren’t convinced.

“You’ll believe it when you see it?” 8News asked. “Yeah.”

Students told 8News the teen responsible for the note has been punished.

Superintendent Nichols did not disclose the severity of the punishment to 8News, but whatever the consequence, some don’t believe it will be enough.

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