'Non-white' student linked to racist graffiti inside school, officials say

Graffiti containing a racial slur (blurred) and phrase "White Lives Matter" was discovered in a Missouri high school last week. (Twitter)

School officials in a Missouri community were making plans Tuesday to discipline a “non-white” student whom they said had confessed to writing a racial slur and the phrase “White Lives Matter” on a mirror inside a girls’ restroom at a high school.

Parkway schools Superintendent Keith Marty said in a statement  Tuesday that the revelation that a non-white student was involved was surprising, but it did not “diminish the hurt” caused by the incident at Parkway Central High School in Chesterfield.

"The behavior was wrong and the student will be held accountable for this serious act according to our student discipline policy," said Marty, according to the St. Louis Post-Dispatch.

"The behavior was wrong and the student will be held accountable for this serious act according to our student discipline policy."

— Keith Marty, Parkway schools superintendent

“It is important to understand why this happened and why we are often quick to assume who is responsible," he added.

The racial slur was found in a girls’ restroom on campus last week, prompting the local community to organize and stand against racism.

“I was horrified,” West County anti-racism activist Joy Weese Moll told KTVI last week. “A lot of us in West County have a really hard time saying racism exists here. It makes me sad for the person who wrote it because they have not been taught and not learned how beautiful our society can be.”

Parents who have children going to the school also reacted.

“This is very much a white person issue that we need to tackle as white people and speak up against,” parent Alexandria Lane-Detwiler said.

Principal Timothy McCarthy reiterated that the student responsible will be punished and such behavior is not welcome at his school.

“The actions of this student are a violation of our discipline code and the student will be held accountable within the parameters of the district’s discipline policy,” he wrote in a statement, KTVI reported.

“The use of the N-word, in the context of the message on the bathroom mirror, provoked feelings of hate, not love. As I stated last week, actions and speech which degrade an individual’s human dignity have no place in school; they have no place at Central High.”