School system apologizes for video mocking George Floyd

SALISBURY, N.C. (AP) — Officials with a North Carolina school system have apologized for a video in which some middle-school students reenacted the murder of George Floyd.

Rowan-Salisbury Schools said it learned about the video featuring students from Erwin Middle School on Monday.

Reports indicate the video is only a few seconds long, but shows one student on the floor in a classroom while another is kneeling on their neck. The student on the floor says “I can’t breathe” while the kneeling student gives a thumbs up to the camera. Laughter can be heard on the video.

Breanna Cherry, whose daughter attends the middle school, told WSOC that her daughter was afraid to speak out.

“She said that she was scared to say anything, and I let her know, ‘You have Black male cousins,’” Cherry said. ”‘It could’ve been your granddaddy. It could’ve been your daddy. It could’ve been anybody. George Floyd could’ve been any Black man.’”

The school system says it’s investigating the incident.

In April, a social media post showing two South Caldwell High School students reenacting Floyd’s death, with one giving a thumbs-up sign, also prompted an investigation. The principal called it an “intolerable incident.”

Former Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin was convicted in April on state charges of second-degree unintentional murder, third-degree murder and second-degree manslaughter in Floyd’s 2020 death. Floyd repeatedly said he couldn’t breathe as Chauvin pinned him to the ground with a knee on Floyd’s neck.