A 16-second video posted to the social media site ‘TikTok,’ has led the Tuscarawas County Sheriff’s office to contact the original poster of the video – a high school aged teenager from the Dundee area.
The video, full of violent and racist remarks, forced concerned citizens to contact the sheriff’s office with feat of violent acts being committed against people of color.
Sheriff Orvis Campbell said one of his sheriff deputies met with the child’s father to address the comments made in the short video. In a press release, Sheriff Campbell stated the father of the teenager appeared to be concerned and asked that the authorities speak to the teenager himself.
Upon discussion, it was determined the video was made during the summer of 2020 when Black Lives Matter peaceful and violent protests were happening throughout the state of Ohio and America. Officials tell us the boy was ‘unhappy and angry’ during that time.
Sheriff Campbell said an investigative report was completed and forwarded to the county prosecutor’s office, however no direct threats were made and he believes charges are unlikely to be filed.
The sheriff noted that the young boy only acted as many people have lately on social media.
Sheriff Campbell said it is appropriate to be upset and disturbed by the remarks made in the video, but as adults, if you are shocked, ‘you are only kidding yourself.’ He said the American community could use some improvements.
“We owe it to our youth to apologize when we are wrong so that they can see us doing so and to reach out to resolve differences so they can see us doing so,” he said. “We must preach caring instead of hate. We must teach them to be great citizens like the ones that built this Country.”
“We adults are quick to teach by example to become enraged when we feel we are wronged, but not how to de-escalate and work together to resolve differences,” Campbell said. “Politicians and entertainers on the left have offered to pay the bail for law violating protestors this year so they could get back to their riots more quickly and some politicians on the right were directly involved in breaking into the United States Capitol.”
Sheriff Campbell called the violent protest and riots ‘cowardly actions that some treat as heroic.’
“Even locally, I have watched people from the left and right shout Un-American phrases as if those unreasonable remarks ever stood a chance to convince someone to listen to their point of view,” he said.
Sheriff said ‘America is in a dark time’ but he chooses to believe it will be a light again. “However, without reasonable words and actions from today’s Leaders and adults to teach our youth, our youth will teach us in the not so far future just how dark America can get,” he said.