A video posted to social media reveals a lady knocking down the flags of a number of Latin American nations outdoors an Oakland faculty in “a hostile act,” district officers mentioned.
The video, which was posted to Instagram on Sunday by a neighborhood group known as the Black Bay Space, opens with the girl pulling on a rope connected to a flag pole outdoors Havenscourt Campus in East Oakland.
The campus homes Coliseum Faculty Prep Academy, a mixed center and highschool, and a well being heart.
John Sasaki, an Oakland Unified Faculty District spokesperson, advised The Instances that officers first seen one thing was amiss Saturday afternoon.
The academy’s principal noticed the flags had been taken down and located them close by, knotted and crumpled up, Sasaki mentioned. She mounted the flags and raised them.
“They embody the flags of Mexico, El Salvador, Honduras and Guatemala right here throughout Latino Heritage Month,” he mentioned. “On Sunday, the principal was alerted to the video on social media, which makes it clear that taking down the flags was a hostile act.”
Within the video, the unidentified lady threatens to burn the flags and seems to be egging witnesses on.
“After which it may be your fault,” the girl says.
The particular person recording the video asks the girl why she was taking the flags down. The girl replies with expletives and tells the particular person to “get out of my f—ing enterprise.”
One other particular person not proven on digicam asks the girl why she took down a Black Lives Matter flag.
“This isn’t Black Lives Matter,” the girl says. “That is Mexico. … This says Mexico. I’m taking it down.”
The academy’s principal despatched a message to the varsity neighborhood Sunday night to tell them of the incident and to convey that the varsity and district “will stand behind the scholars and workers no matter what anybody outdoors the neighborhood does,” Sasaki mentioned.
“CCPA’s scholar physique is greater than 75% Latino, and Latino Heritage Month is essential to the neighborhood, as it’s at faculties throughout the district,” he mentioned Monday night. “We’ve talked with the Oakland Police Division, and are working with them on this concern.”
The district spokesperson known as the actions captured on video “unsuitable, repugnant and pointless.”
As of Monday night time, the girl’s id stays unknown.
Kim Armstead, an Oakland police spokesperson, mentioned the division hadn’t taken a report from the district or faculty officers.
“We did nevertheless communicate with their [public information officer], who suggested a report can be made in the present day,” Armstead mentioned Monday night.
Additional details about the incident was not out there.
