WHITLEY COUNTY, Ky. (LEX 18) — Corbin High School students are speaking out after a photo from the school has been circulated on social media. The photo shows an African American student with a noose around his neck being held up by a Caucasian student.
The photo's caption reads, "Your average day at Corbin."
Corbin High Junior, Nathaniel Jackson says, "The black student - he's a quiet student he kinda let it happen he doesn't really show his feelings much. They just pretended like he was hanging him, and everybody just played it off as a joke and everybody just went about their day."
This junior says he wasn't in the classroom when yesterday's incident occurred. But the third student in the picture was. That third student is Corbin High Junior, Taytan McCauley. Both Jackson and McCauley say a teacher was not in the room at the time.
McCauley says, "Corbin has a long history of racism in the school and in the town and I thought it was past us, but this act right here showed me that it wasn’t. And everybody is created equal and so, really no point in racism."
The African American population at this school is low.
Corbin Independent School’s leader, Superintendent David Cox, released this statement that says:
“Corbin Independent Schools was made aware of an inappropriate photograph involving two Corbin High School students. Corbin school administration is investigating the incident and in no way condones the content of the referenced photograph. Appropriate action will be taken upon completion of the investigation.”
Unfortunately, these Corbin High School students say that incidents like this one aren't uncommon at their school or in this town -- and they say now they're ready for a change.
"This community really needs to be united more. There's a lot of... I don't know if it’s aftereffects or what, but there are still some people that are like that for sure around here that just don't speak out about how they are. ... We all need to care for each other, because I mean in the long run, we're all in this together, you know?" says Jackson.
