Great Barrington — An investigation into reports of a lynching threat at Monument Mountain Regional High School is now closed after police said the threats “did not constitute a prosecutable offense.”
In a Wednesday (Oct.12) statement, Great Barrington Police Department Chief William Walsh said investigating officers Jonathan Finnerty and James Bragdon concluded that the Sept. 26 “verbal altercation…allegedly involving racist comments between two high school students…were very concerning,” but “did not rise to a physical level.”
The incident, in which an African-American student said he was threatened by another student who is white, has prompted soul-searching about race relations and racial undercurrents in the largely white Berkshire County communities and at Monument.
The threatened student, a varsity football player, told school officials that the threats were made in retaliation for his decision to kneel during the national anthem as a protest of police brutality against African-Americans. The practice of “taking a knee” is sweeping across the country as players at all levels of the sport are emulating the San Francisco 49ers’ Colin Kaepernick, the first player to make the gesture of protest.
The student who made the threats was suspended for a finite period of time, though in a previous email to the Edge, Monument Principal Marianne Young did not specify for how long.
Reports of the incident were serious enough for the GBPD to open an investigation and “consult with state and federal agencies to determine whether or not the remarks of one of the students could be classified as hate speech.”
An FBI investigator was at the school the week after the incident, according to Berkshire Hills Regional School District Superintendent Peter Dillon.
“Though the law did not determine this incident to be criminal in nature, the remarks and language used during this incident are reprehensible,” Walsh said in the prepared statement. “They are not condoned by the police department or the community of Great Barrington.”
In an effort to take a high-voltage episode and learn from it, Monument held an assembly in which Young said she and the school had perhaps not done enough to manage racial tensions. Students also spoke frankly about the climate there. Junior Tristan Alston, whose father is black, criticized the administration for not taking action on race issues over the years, and said he did not feel “safe in these halls.”
Local NAACP President Dennis Powell is rallying support of the student who was threatened and said he will attend the two upcoming home games on Friday, Oct. 14, and Friday, Oct. 21, and “take a knee” during the national anthem. He invited other groups and community members to join him.
In his statement, Walsh further said the episode was an opportunity.
“We encourage everyone in the community to have frank and honest discussions and to learn from this incident,” he said. “We must be more mindful of the language used when we speak to one another.”
