SACRAMENTO, Calif. — Sacramento school officials have opened an investigation after racist messages were found at an elementary school Tuesday.
In a news release, the Sacramento City Unified School District said it was on a wall at Abraham Lincoln Elementary School Tuesday morning.
A spokesperson for the district confirmed to ABC10 that it included the N-word, "KKK" and swastikas.
“It is appalling that anyone would target a school with racist graffiti and subject students, staff and families to messages of hate,” Sacramento City Unified School District Superintendent Jorge Aguilar said in a statement. “With support from law enforcement we will fully investigate this incident. We also want each of our students to know that they are loved and cared for while we work to confront racism in any form.”
The school district says it is working with the Rancho Cordova Police Department for the investigation. In the news release, the district said it will take "appropriate action" in the event a student or anyone associated with the elementary school or SCUSD was involved.
“The Sacramento City Unified School Board condemns acts of racism in the strongest possible terms,” Sacramento City Unified School Board President Christina Pritchett said in a statement. “We are saddened and outraged to see events like this occur in places that are meant to be welcoming safe havens for all of our students and staff.”
Other Incidents
The district is also investigating after someone wrote a racial slur above a water fountain on the campus of C.K. McClatchy High School on Friday.
The photo shows two wall-mounted water fountains next to each other. Someone wrote “white” above the water fountain designed as a bottle filler and “colored” above the standard drinking fountain.
In November 2021, West Campus High School assistant principal Dr. Elysse Versher says she found the N-word spray-painted five times on a wall, near her assigned parking spot on campus. Dr. Versher says she also experienced racism and harassment on social media in response to enforcing the school's dress code.
In another case, SCUSD recently suspended, with plans to terminate, a middle school Spanish teacher who used the N-word in a class with 7th graders during a lecture. The incident happed at Kit Carson International Academy in June 2021.
In an announcement made last month, SCUSD hired Mark T. Harris, an attorney and long-time Sacramento community member with extensive expertise in social justice and civil rights matters, to advise the district on addressing racist incidents that are currently under investigation, and to support the district’s efforts to address racism and improve equity and inclusion for all.
