Hundreds of high school students from across Portland plan to hold rallies Friday to show support for the four black Casco Bay High School students who were the targets of a hate crime last week.
Students from Deering High School on Stevens Avenue and Portland High School on Cumberland Avenue say they will gather outside their respective schools beginning at 2:15 p.m.
A statement issued Thursday night by Portland Public Schools said the students won’t march, but will stand outside school buildings holding signs in solidarity.
The Stand of Solidarity event at Deering High was organized by members of the school’s Human Rights class, an elective for upperclassmen. The class is currently studying the Holocaust. Portland High students will stand on sidewalks surrounding the school building.
Assistant Portland Police Chief Vern Malloch said the four black students were accosted on Jan. 27 by a white teenager, who made racist comments while they were waiting for a bus on Allen Avenue. A verbal confrontation followed and the white student assaulted two of the students and brandished a knife.
Malloch described the incident as a hate crime. The suspect was wearing a distinctive black Insane Clown Posse hat with red trim.