(Photo : Screenshot from Youtube/ MLive)


Tensions rose in a school meeting in Michigan on Monday. The meeting was meant to discuss racial issues in the school community. However, one of the parents interrupted a Latino dad by blurting out, "Why didn't you stay in Mexico?"

During the meeting hosted by Saline Area Schools, parents of minority students shared how their children felt discriminated against in the school district, according to an article by MSN. One of them was Adrian Iraola who said his son was the victim of racist remarks.

"When I went to his bedroom to say good night he was crying because of the abuse endured in this school system," Iraola said. In the middle of his explantion, another parent named, Tom Burtell  interrupted him.

"Why didn't you stay in Mexico?" he interjected. This drew a strong reaction from the crowd of about 125 parents as evident in a video https://youtu.be/PxPPBsyuLIM posted by a local news outlet.

Several parents, shoute, "You need to leave" and "That is disgusting" condemning Burtell's remark.

A man is also heard in the video saying, "That's indicative of what these kids are experiencing. Comments like that." He added, Iraola "is sharing a story right now and that's indicative of what these kids are experiencing."

As the noise subsided, Iraola responded to Burtell's question. "Why didn't I stay in Mexico? Because this is the greatest country in the world."

Several people cheered, but Burtell shouted, "But you're complaining about being here."

Said meeting aimed to discuss about diversity and inclusion following an incident that occured last month involving students in the district who posted racist comments about black people on social media.

Superintendent Scot Garden posted on his website that the district already investigated the incident and concluded that "additional efforts must be made to repair the damage from this situation."

Following the incident last Monday, Garden announced the conversation will be continued on another meeting next week. "There are a lot of issues we can discuss, however, based on recent events I would like talk about the issue of diversity, equity & inclusion as it relates to our community and Saline Area Schools," he posted. "What role do we play as a school district? What role should we play?"

In an emailed statement to CBS News, Garden condemned the racist remarks during the meeting. "Hate, prejudice, and racism have no place in our schools or our community," he said. "The Saline Board of Education and administration take the issue of student and adult behavior seriously.  We are striving to ensure a welcoming, inclusive, and safe environment for all students and families, regardless of their race, ethnicity, socioeconomic status, gender identity, or any other identity. This is an opportunity for us - the staff, students, and community of Saline Area Schools - to stand for anti-racism, respect, and inclusion of all students."

Still in line with the Monday incident, a crowd promoting diversity filled the sidewalks of downtown Saline on Wednesday night.

The protesters carried signs that read "hate has no home here," "#Outnumbered," "white silence = white consent" and "We are a nation of immigrants."

Anti-Latino hate crimes are on the rise. According to FBI's recent report, the personal attacks motivated by bias or prejudice against Latinos in the U.S. is at its highest in nearly a decade, revealing 485 hate crimes against Latinos in 2018. This figure is 58 more than that of 2017 and even outpacing a drop in assaults targeting Muslims and Arab Americans.

In recent years, FBI has made a significant effort  to increase awareness and response rates but still, many cities and some entire states failed to collect or report the data last year, according to an article by New York Times. https://www.nytimes.com/2019/11/12/us/hate-crimes-fbi-report.html

One reason that can be cited is that more than half of all victims of hate crimes, including the son of the Latino dad, never file a complaint with the authorities.