Officials say the Hudson High pupil admitted to writing a racist note to a black schoolmate, who is puzzled.
By REBECCA CATALANELLO
Published September 9, 2003
HUDSON - The note contained all the markings of a hate threat. There were two KKK's scribbled, a hangman picture, eight likenesses of swastikas, four mentions of the so-called "n-word" and a threat that "I will hang you black n-----, get out of Hudson or die."
The message was so alarming that after a black Hudson High School junior received it on Aug. 28, he contacted administrators, his mother and St. Petersburg NAACP president Darryl Rouson.
Rouson made a trip to Hudson on Monday morning to investigate.
That was before school officials named a perpetrator.
The guilty party was, they say, a black Hudson freshman.
"It's not a pleasant situation," Rouson said, on his way back from visiting the west Pasco County school. "We certainly didn't want to come in here and think it's one black child doing this to another black child."
Hudson principal Greg Wright said administrators suspended the student on Monday morning after he admitted to writing the note as a joke. The freshman also was referred to a juvenile diversion program on charges that he falsified a police report, Pasco Sheriff's Office spokesman Jon Powers said.
"I don't believe it," said the 17-year-old junior who first contacted administrators and Rouson about the notes. "It's not that I can't - I don't."
The Times is withholding the identities of the students in this story as they are juveniles.
The 17-year-old and his mother both said they believe the freshman was pressured into confessing. They also said they doubt the validity of a handwriting evaluation that Powers said was one of the things that brought the suspect into question.
Both the junior student and his mother said the letter administrators referred to on Monday was different than the one he handed to a school resource officer when first reporting the incident.
"I'm astounded that she would come up with that," principal Wright said. "There's no other letter. "
The student accused of writing the note could not be reached Monday. He was the same student who first handed the junior the note, school officials and the 17-year-old said.
Rouson was complimentary of the school's response Monday, saying he was "impressed with the way Mr. Wright pushed the investigation. They didn't let it go. They didn't sweep it under the rug."
Rouson could not be reached later in the day in reaction to the disbelief of the two people who first complained to him about the problem.
Wright said the accused student changed his story several times: he found the letter on his books; someone dropped it on the floor; and other scenarios. The freshman student wrote a statement for a police report, and Powers said investigators quickly realized the similarity in the handwriting between the two documents.
"I don't believe it," the mother of the threatened junior said. "I've got the gut feeling the young man was pushed in a corner. Why would another black student - with all we've gone through - write a letter like that?"
Hudson has eight black students out of a 1,630-student population. The 17-year-old who received the note said that he has felt threatened on several occasions at the school because of his race. He stayed out of school for three days after the most recent incident and he's trying to transfer to another school.
Wright said he's sensitive to the situation. "Talking to (the student), he doesn't feel like he's a part of this school. He always feels like a minority. ... We have to find more ways to make these kids feel more like a part of the school."
Rouson said he left Hudson with the agreement that the NAACP would monitor race issues at the school, offering expertise on such things as creating black history events.
- Rebecca Catalanello covers education in Pasco County. She can be reached in west Pasco at 869-6241 or toll-free at 1-800-333-7505, ext. 6241. Her e-mail address is rcatalanello@sptimes.com
