MONROE – A Monroe High School student was charged with felony harassment Wednesday for allegedly waving a noose at a black student.
The white student, 17, called the other boy a racial slur and swung the rope back and forth before him in the school’s parking lot in October, according to a charge filed in Snohomish County Juvenile Court.
The black student told police he “took that as he wanted to hang me, since I was the only black person there,” court records say.
The white student claimed he did not know the black student was present, court documents say.
The black student reported the incident to a Monroe police officer Oct. 27. It was one of at least four racial incidents at the school since classes started in September.
A school security officer confiscated a noose from another student’s car Oct. 19. That student said other students also had nooses in their vehicles but kept them in their glove boxes while at school, court documents said.
In mid-September, a Mexican flag was torn down and thrown into a restroom, Monroe School District spokeswoman Rosemary O’Neil said. An argument with “racial undertones” also was reported, she said.
The black student who reported the noose incident also told investigators the white student who threatened him had a racist tattoo on his arm. The boy called him and other black students racial epithets “all the time,” court documents say.
The white student was expelled after the school learned about the allegations. The student reportedly was part of a group known as the “hicks,” a student told police.
Two other students reported that the white student also had called them racial slurs, according court records. One of those students said he had been called a racist name 10 or 15 times by the boy, but didn’t come forward because he feared the boy and his friends would beat him up.
The Herald does not name juveniles charged with crimes.
The boy’s father on Wednesday evening said, “The only thing I can say is that I’ve been advised by an attorney not to talk about it.”
The victim’s mother said the family was trying to lay low as the case works itself out.
“We’re up to our eyeballs in this. It’s very stressful. I don’t know where it goes from here,” she said. “I do think it’s going to send a good message to other kids – that it’s not going to be accepted anymore.”
Monroe High School parent Paula Andrew said has sympathy for the parents of the boy who has been charged, but at the same time is glad police investigated the case.
“It’s all about choices, and I think we need to teach our youths to make the right choices,” said Andrew, a member of a coalition formed recently to address racism concerns at the school. “Maybe the students will learn from it.”
Reporter Katherine Schiffner: 425-339-3436 or schiffner@ heraldnet.com.
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