School investigating after video surfaces of Jordan High student-athlete making racist, sexist remarks

Durham Public Schools and Jordan High School are investigating after a video showed up on social media showing a student-athlete making racist and sexist comments.

Two people are shown in the video but only one person speaks during the 10-second recording. Aminah Jenkins, the student body president at Jordan, told HighSchoolOT.com that the student speaking plays football and lacrosse.

"I was initially disheartened that a student at Jordan would use a racial slur and degrade women," Jenkins said on Tuesday night. "My concerns are not in any way about his political views, but about his comments about women and the racial slur."

The student on video uses the N-word at the end of the video and makes several references to President Donald Trump.

According to Durham Public Schools, Jordan principal Susan Taylor is working with Dr. Kelvin Bullock, the district's executive director for equity affairs, to respond to the incident.

"The video message was not recorded during the school year or using school resources. However, Principal Taylor and school and district staff will take all appropriate measures to ensure that Jordan continues to be a safe, inclusive, and welcoming school community for all students," district spokesman Chip Sudderth said in a written statement.

Jenkins said many students at Jordan are outraged by the video and hope to see action.

"This anger needs to be translated into productive work," she said. "Every stakeholder ... at Jordan High School should be moved to work on methods of education and prevention. Students should not have to worry about sexism and racism in their school, and the community should be proactive in eradicating it."

Taylor issued a robocall to Jordan families where she thanked the community for making her aware of the video and said the content did not reflect the values of the community.

"When I was first made aware of the video, several actions took place and will continue. The actions were designed to investigate, address the behavior, plan for healing, and take steps to ensure that Jordan is a school in which all students are and feel welcome," said Taylor.

In addition to working with Dr. Bullock, Taylor said she is planning to meet with student leadership prior to the start of the school year to "develop critical next steps in our community building and healing process."

As a member of student leadership, Jenkins said the community wants to see the player who made the remarks removed from all Jordan athletic teams.

"We fully support our sports teams. A boycott will only take place if he is allowed to play. Our teams deserve a player that doesn't make statements like that, and our school doesn't deserve to be represented by his comments," Jenkins said. "We feel that the student's actions do not define us nor our athletics department, and should not be given a platform."