Massachusetts middle school students facing charges after alleged hateful and racist speech, threats

6 Massachusetts middle school students are facing charges after authorities say they participated in hate and racist speech and threats.

According to the District Attorney’s Office, Thursday morning, Hampden District Attorney Anthony Gulluni authorized members of his office’s Massachusetts State Police Detective Unit and the Chief of the Juvenile Court Unit, to pursue criminal charges against six juveniles for their alleged roles in facilitating and participating in a hateful, racist online chat that included heinous language, threats, and a mock slave auction.

Hampden District Attorney Anthony D. Gulluni stated, “Hatred and racism have no place in this community. And where this behavior becomes criminal, I will ensure that we act, and act with swift resolve, as we did here, to uncover it and bring it to the light of justice. There is no question that the alleged behavior of these six juveniles is vile, cruel, and contemptible. Seeing it, and facing the reality that these thoughts, that this ugliness, can exist within middle school students, here, in this community, in 2024 is discouraging, unsettling, and deeply frustrating. As I have described, through the work of my office’s investigators, and the work in court yet to come, we intend to appropriately punish those whose alleged behavior displayed a capacity for such hatred and cruelty and, ultimately, amounted to chargeable criminal conduct. And we must also acknowledge that this incident is not and will not be the only one of its kind. It is a reality that we cannot ignore. I look forward with resolve and commitment to enact change and to foster progress in this county.”

The DA stated that because these charges have been filed in the juvenile court, there are ethical and legal restrictions that prevent the divulging of some information, such as the identities of the individuals involved.

The juveniles have been charged with the following: one juvenile has been charged with: interference with civil rights, threat to commit a crime, and witness interference, one juvenile has been charged with: interference with civil rights and threat to commit a crime, and four other juveniles have each been charged with: threat to commit a crime.

The following timeline and series of events was learned through the district attorney’s investigation: late in the evening on Thursday, February 8, 2024 and into the early morning hours of Friday, February 9, a group chat transpired over the social media application, Snapchat, which was created by a group of 8th grade students from Southwick. This discussion involved multiple juveniles, some of whom came and went during the course of the group chat. The investigation revealed that several students expressed hateful and racist comments, including notions of violence toward people of color, racial slurs, derogatory pictures and videos, and a mock slave auction directed at two particular juveniles.

On Friday, February 9th, the existence of the group chat and some of its subject matter was reported to Southwick school authorities.

On Monday, February 12, 2024, after a review by school personnel, several students, including all who are now charged by this office, were immediately suspended as an emergency removal, per state law, from Southwick Regional School. On Thursday, February 15th and Friday, February 16th several students were formally suspended. Most notably, two students were suspended for 25 days, and one student for a period of 45 days.

On Monday, February 12, 2024, the Juvenile Court Chief of the Hampden District Attorney’s Office was informed by the Southwick Police Department of an incident that occurred involving social media, bullying, and hateful language. The assistant district attorney was asked for guidance and provided his input on relevant law and procedure. On Thursday, February 15, The district attorney personally became aware of this incident. The facts that he was given, and the nature of the alleged incident, compelled him to immediately direct members of his office’s Massachusetts State Police Detective Unit to investigate.

The investigation was then taken over by the Hampden DA’s Office. At the onset of this process, District Attorney Anthony Gulluni met personally with the identified victims and their families. In a short period of time, prosecutors and investigators in the Hampden District Attorney’s office worked to piece together the investigation.

In addition to the criminal charges, Hampden District Attorney Anthony Gulluni has initiated the following three steps to attack this problem in Hampden County with the hope of preventing future harm, encouraging empathy, and building stronger communities free of hate:

1. In the immediate future, The Hampen District Attorney’s Office’s Community Safety and Outreach Unit will deliver curriculum around the issue of hate and bullying to the Southwick school community.

2. In the weeks since this incident came to light, District Attorney Anthony Gulluni has had conversations with Massachusetts Attorney General Andrea Campbell, and members of his office have spoken with counterparts in the AG’s Office. These conversations have led to a promising partnership between the two offices to create a specific program to more deeply address and remediate the harmful forces of bigotry, racism, and bullying in our schools.

3. Members of the Hampden District Attorney’s Office has had conversations with the recently announced unit of the Massachusetts State Police, called HART, which stands for Hate-crimes Awareness and Response Team. We will enlist their support and resources to jointly instruct police departments and school personnel across western Massachusetts on best practices regarding hate crimes and bullying within schools.

Moving forward, Hampden District Attorney Anthony Gulluni, states, “I hope that this unequivocal message that hate and bullying will not be tolerated in this county will deter people from similar behavior. I hope that communities will surround those affected by hate and bullying with support and love, so that victims become resilient survivors. I hope that people who make mistakes and those who witness them will learn from them so as not to repeat them. I hope that our collective efforts to promote empathy, compassion, and tolerance will overcome the forces of apathy, malice, and intolerance. This is not an issue exclusive to a place, or an age group, or a race. This is a universal issue that we must face as one, unified community. Let’s move forward with hope, resiliency, and a commitment to justice.”