Some see racism in Wayne County principal's Facebook post about alleged UNC shooter
A social media post made by a Wayne County Schools principal has drawn the ire of some parents and online communities.
Spring Creek High School Principal Wendy Waters' commentary on Monday's fatal on-campus shooting at The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill invoked speculative theories about the alleged shooter. Waters called herself a "mad mamma" in the post, which came to light on Wednesday.
Waters speculated that alleged shooter Tailei Qi was "stealing our intellectual property working for the CCP." Qi previously spent time in China and graduated from Wuhan University. Various studies have reached different conclusions, but a US Department of Energy report released in February assessed that COVID-19 likely came from a lab leak in China.
The post read as follows:
"What? He only came to our country in 2022 from the UNIVERSITY OF WUHAN!!! My bet is he's a Chinese Nationalist as a "visiting student" stealing our intellectual property working for the CCP!! There is nothing WHITE about him and since this is now at my front door I will not let them get away with their gaslighting BS!!!
WE NEED TO DECOUPLE FROM PEOPLE WHO HATE US!!!
Coming from a mad mamma!!!"
The post was poorly-received by some families and drew hundreds of comments on Reddit in a thread entitled "School Principal's racist response to UNC shooting." Some interpreted the post as racist.
Wayne County Schools released a statement in response.
"As role models for our students, every WCPS employee is held to the same professional standards in their public use of social media and other electronic communications as they are for any other public conduct in accordance with Board of Education Policy 7335. Wayne County Public Schools is aware of the personal social media post made by Spring Creek High School principal Wendy Waters. While we are limited in what we can say, as this is a personnel matter, we must be clear by stating that the personal post by Ms. Waters in no way reflects the views of the school district. This matter is under review and is being handled in accordance with local Board of Education policies."
The district said there has been no change in Waters' status as an employee.
Qi was a 34-year-old doctoral student in applied physical sciences. Zijie Yan, a researcher based at UNC, died in the shooting.
Triangle Area Chinese American Society President Michael Huang said it's wrong for those sharing their thoughts about a tragedy to focus on a suspect's race.
"We actually have to think about how to find a solution to prevent such an event happening instead of focusing on race," said Huang. "This has nothing to do race. This is something that shouldn't be happening to anyone."
Duke Professor Eileen Chow said some students in particular have been targeted and faced unfair accusations.
"Especially students in STEM have been suspected of being spies or being traitors or what not," Chow said. "This is something that Asian Americans or Asian diaspora or international students in the U.S. – we constantly worry about."
WRAL News reached out to Waters for comment. We have yet to hear back.
