A video of three white girls at Athlone Community College (ACC) and Our Lady's Bower (OLB) surfaced recently in which they say "when I say slave, you say n****r, slave n****r slave". The principals at these schools are Eileen Donohoe (ACC) and Noel Casey (OLB).

This is dehumanising but it becomes even more insidious when you realise that two of those girls have parents who are staff members at these schools. Eamonn Hardiman and Eileen McEvily, career guidance counsellor at OLB and Year Head/Director at ACC respectively have raised children who trivialise the trauma of racism. This calls to question whether they are racist themselves and have made decisions concerning black students tainted by their racial bias.

It is clear, from the experiences of black students that there is racism in these schools and the following are just the tip of the iceberg:

• Placing students in classes according to intelligence with no entrance exam or any clear way of measuring this except skin colour with coincidently no black students in the top classes for decades. (ACC)
• Mr Hardiman pushing one of the smartest girls in the school (black) to do a PLC instead of pursuing a university degree. (OLB)
• A school performance of Hairspray by an all-white cast with students painted in blackface. (OLB)
• No repercussions for a teacher who lied that a black student hit her in a class of 15 witnesses. Attempting to silence that student by saying they can only tell their mother, attempting to suspend them and calling the Gardaí, all before contacting their parents. (ACC)
• Locking a black student in a tiny room with the lights off. (ACC)
• Suspending a black student for saying the n word out loud while writing a note home for a white student who called a black student a "n****r" and "cotton picker". (ACC)
• Principal, Ms Donohoe telling black students they are turning the school into a "ghetto" and "slum". (ACC)
• Deputy Principal Mr Forde asking black students if they are "monkeys in a jungle". (ACC)
• Ms Kelly calling groups of 14 year old boys "gangs" and other teachers calling black students "intimidating" and that they are "scaring the other students". (ACC)
• Principal, Mr Casey asking a black student if herself and the other black girls were a "gang". (OLB)
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Racism is traumatic and should not be tolerated anywhere. How can you segregate students and then call them a gang and intimidating when they are together?

Racism is an act of violence and Athlone Community College and Our Lady's Bower must be committed to eradicating it. There should be absolutely no tolerance for racism and bigotry. The first step in doing this is to expel the three students who have been filmed perpetuating and trivialising it and further causing trauma to black students and people as a whole. This will make is crystal clear to other students that it will never be normal or tolerated.

It is very worrying that teachers with racial bias will be the ones to predict grades for black children.

We also call for an investigation into racial abuse and child abuse at Athlone Community College, headed by Eileen Donohoe, by the Department of Education, the Department of Justice and Robert Troy, TD. It is clear that black students have been tormented and bullied by faculty members for years under her watch and by her own self. It is questionable at best that management are able to run the school without perpetuating racism and if not the resignation of multiple faculty members must be in order.

These institutions must then commit themselves to continuous education. It is not the responsibility for children to teach adults how to treat them as human beings.

The pursuit of an education and a bright future should not come at the expense of a child's mental health and wellbeing. Not for any reason, least not because of the colour of their skin. The fact that this has gone on for so long should disgust you.