Police Department in Texas apologizes for allegedly racist Facebook post of Indian students

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Parents of the Independent School District in Katy, Texas have expressed outrage about allegations of racism after the local police department released a Facebook post on October 25 of an overcrowded school bus packed with Indian students.

According to several news reports, the post shows several Indian children hanging off the side of a school bus, with a caption reading: “Remember. It’s National School Bus Safety Week.”

One of the moms responded saying, “This post is completely offensive. Shame on you Katy ISD Police Department. Your job is to remain neutral and offer protection to our students, staff and faculty, not post such racist memes. This is NOT representative of my support of the school district which is supposed to educate our children into world leaders. Shame!”

Clint Proctor, the parent who saw the post, demanded a removal of it saying that “it was clearly inappropriate and unfortunately, it’s racist,” according to a Houston Chronicle report, and he even reached out to the officer who posted the message, who in return “said there was nothing about that post that [was problematic] and that I don’t know how to take a joke.”

On the other hand, Indian American Harini Iragavarapu said that she “loved it and it was actually funny.”

The post was in fact removed and the Katy ISD Police Department issued an apology on Facebook saying: “Our last post was not meant to humiliate or offend anyone, it was intended as a reminder of the importance of school bus safety during National School Bus Safety Week. The post was deleted and again we apologize if it offended anyone.”

They later issued a statement reading:

“Katy ISD was made aware of a post placed on the Katy ISD Police Department Facebook page this morning. The post was not intended to offend anyone. It has since been removed. Here at Katy ISD we are committed to respecting all cultures and backgrounds. Our relationship with our students, parents and community is extremely important. We apologize and take full responsibility for this incident. We want our community to know that this issue is important to us and it will be dealt with in the appropriate manner.”