A New Hampshire school district is investigating after two students remixed “Jingle Bells” to sing about the Ku Klux Klan.
Two Dover High School students sang the jingle last Friday for a history class project about the Reconstruction period following the Civil War, according to The Washington Post.
In a video taken by Chloe Harris, another student, the boys sang the song in front of a classroom full of laughing students.
“KKK, KKK, let’s kill all the Blacks, burn a cross in their front yard and hope they don’t come back,” they sang.
Harris posted the video on Snapchat despite the teacher asking students not to record any of the performances. She defied the orders because of the song’s content.
"Ignorance. It's very rampant here. I think people need to learn how to address these things better. I don't want any ill intent on the student. I know the kid, and he's a good kid, so I think the way he presented the information was totally wrong, and I said it. I had to walk out (because) I was so frustrated," Harris told WMUR.
One of the students who sang the tune insisted he wasn’t trying to be racist. He said his peers were laughing at the absurdity of the project.
"I want them to know that it was not our intention to offend anyone; we were simply trying to make a factual reference to the KKK and the history," he said.
The teacher who created the assignment was placed on paid leave.
Dover Schools Superintendent William Harbron wants the video to be a learning opportunity for the community.
“What we are much more concerned about is making sure that we use this opportunity to really learn from it and make sure business is done differently, and that all students are respected and regarded — regardless of their background, their race,” Harbron said. “I think that’s more of a concern for us right now.”
“From our understanding, the students were only doing the assignment they were asked to do,” he added.
Harbron has met with students in the class and plans to meet with other students in the district.
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