OLYMPIA, Wash. — Capital High School students walked out Monday after a video went viral of someone shouting a racial slur during a high school basketball game at a player on the visiting team.
Their message: They don't want the incident to represent their school.
The video shows a student audibly yelling expletives and the word "gorilla" during the game against River Ridge High School on Jan. 14.
Qayi Steplight previously told KING 5 his 16-year-old son was targeted.
"This has to be taken on, full head," Steplight previously said.
On Monday, Steplight said he felt encouraged to see so many standing beside him.
"I really wasn't expecting that many kids because with the incident happening you kind of get the feeling that maybe there just isn't that many people who would really care ... but it seems that there are a lot of people who feel like this is a situation that shouldn't have ever happened," he said.
When his son showed him the video, Steplight said he felt compelled to explain to his son that what was yelled out was not just simple taunting. He said it took him back to his own moments facing racism when he was a teenager.
Superintendent of the Olympia School District, Patrick Murphy, posted a statement online, saying the incident was investigated and discipline was issued. The student who was heard yelling the racial slur was not identified.
Murphy's statement added in part, "it is incumbent upon me to work with our school leaders and staff to ensure that when student actions cause harm, there is accountability, learning and an opportunity to restore and make amends with those who have been hurt."
The full statement from the school district can be read here.
Steplight posted the student's video on his own Facebook page to bring attention to what happened.
"Everybody's equal. If I poke you and you poke me, we both bleed red. So if they can't get on board with that, then they shouldn't play," he said.
Steplight said he has talked with Capital High School's principal and athletic director, who both apologized to him.
