Virginia high school students leave Twitter users divided over ‘racist’ T-shirts

School's principal says plans are in place to 'educate the entire student body about this type of behaviour'

(@ShaunKing/Twitter)

Two high school students divided opinion online after a picture surfaced appearing to show them both wearing T-shirts emblazoned with a ‘racist’ slogan.

Twitter users quickly reacted to the photo which showed the pair donning the clothing which read ‘N16ga We Made It’ - lyrics from the popular Drake and Soulja Boy song ‘We Made It’.

The unnamed white senior students from Mountain View High School in Stafford, Virginia, US, altered the word ‘n***a’ by adding in the number ‘16’ to represent their upcoming year of graduation.

However, the clothing did not go down well with some on social media:

Although acknowledging the T-shirts were inappropriate, others took a different stance:

In a statement from the school, Principal James Stemple said he was ‘truly sorry’ this incident occurred at Mountain View and added: “There are plans in place to educate the entire student body about this type of behaviour, provide counselling if needed for any student and to work with the entire community to ensure this type of action does not happen again.”

According to the local news site CBS 6, WTVR-TV, Stafford Superintendent Bruce Benson insisted the incident was not reflective of the school system's beliefs.

Ensuring how the school believes in ‘diversity and respect’, he added in a statement: “I have had the pleasure of meeting and working with a number of students at Mountain View and this behavior is not representative of the students there.”

CBS also added how the school chose not to disclose what - or if any - disciplinary action was taken against the students, and only said: “The incident has been investigated and appropriate actions have been taken.”