Group of students wear Confederate flags during Spirit Week at local school

Gloucester County, NJ (WTXF) - A group of students got a lot of attention online after what they wore to school during Spirit Week. Now, the school is taking action.

Arthur Taylor shared the horror he felt after his black daughter told him about white students showing up to class wearing Confederate flags at Gloucester County Institute of Technology last week.

"She was like shocked to see it," he said.

Pictures of students wearing shirts showing the Confederate flag circulated on social media and came after parents say black students elected to wear all black to silently protest racial injustice during Spirit Week when students were encouraged to wear patriotic colors.

"The comments that were also made such as 'Go back to Africa.' You don't like it then bleach your skin white," Loretta Winters, president of e Gloucester County NAACP, said.

Winters was called in to meet with the school's African American Culture Club.

"They were very structured. Each one spoke," she said.

She says District officials acknowledged the issue and pledged to resolve the racial tension through a series of meetings.

"I think the District is handling it excellently. I couldn't ask for anything better," Winters said.

In the meantime, Arthur Taylor hopes those who brought the controversial historical symbols to campus learned some history as well.

"When I look at that flag the thing that comes to my mind is that for several people with a noose around their neck that may have been the last image that they saw before they took their last breath," he said.