Washington Township High School looks to ease racial tensions after incident

GLOUCESTER COUNTY, NJ (WTXF) - A racially charged text message from one high school student to another has raised tensions in a South Jersey community.

Students, parents, teachers, and school leaders are all taking actions to help ease racial tensions at Washington Township High School.

Thursday, the student body came together for a peaceful demonstration in the school's auditorium.

During the demonstration, classmates spoke openly about equality and their concerns about racism.

"At first we felt anger, but we decided that we needed a different approach to this and decided this peaceful protest was the best," one student said.

"It has been brought to administration's attention that there are racial slurs especially on social media from other students. Not necessarily against the student but towards another race which isn't okay," another student added.

The school's administration also met with the Gloucester County NAACP to collaborate on the appropriate steps moving forward.

The incidents in Washington Township come just days after a photo of pumpkins carved with symbols of racism and hate cause students and parents to protest in Coatesville, Pennsylvania.