Racist graffiti found at Concord-Carlisle HS

CONCORD, Mass. (WHDH) -- A message of hate was found scrawled in the library of Concord Carlisle High School.

In a place filled with words and brilliant writing, students stumbled upon a derogatory, graphic racial slur inside the library at the school.

Students took a photograph of the offensive language. Some teenagers told 7News they are disturbed and shaken up by the incident.

“I was really hurt. Especially knowing I’ve been coming out here for 12 years,” said Michelle Burke, a senior at the school.

“Just to find out that it came from my school, it really hurt me because it’s not evident,” said Asia Council, a senior.

The school notified its resource officer, who contacted Concord police. Investigators are now working with administrators to find out who is responsible.

“While it could be criminal in nature, any vandalism would be, generally it’s handled at the schools, but any incident like this could go both ways,” said Lt. Roy Mulcahy of the Concord Police Department.

Officers said the slur was in a general area of the building, but are still trying to determine if there was an intended target.

“While extremely serious, it does appear to be an isolated incident. We don’t have a big history of anything like this,” said Mulcahy.

Students said they aren’t waiting around for the school to take action. They dressed in all black to raise awareness.

“I don’t want to focus on the fact that the word hurt so much, as the fact that it’s not okay and that people ignore and say ‘it’s one incident you know, we shouldn’t blow it up,’ but we should,” said Council.

The school’s principal, Peter Badalament, released a statement saying, in part, “This is not a school community that will ignore racism; we all need to stand up to intolerance.”

Police said this incident was reported to the Concord-Carlisle human rights committee and it will also go before the school board committee.