Tirade Posted on Hacked Berkeley High Computer Threatened African Americans

The offender overrode protections on a computer in the school library, and according to one observer, “changed the homepage to reflect a racist and offensive viewpoint. The text literally read ‘F [rhymes with duck] all the niggers in the world’ where it previously read ‘BHS Library.'”

A forensics investigation and interview later determined a student was responsible for the screen hack, school officials announced on Thursday. The compromised computer was initially discovered by a parent volunteer on Wednesday, officials said.

On Wednesday, school principal Sam Pasarow characterized the message as “a hate crime” and said it “will not stand in our community. I assure you that we are giving this investigation the utmost attention, as well as involving the Berkeley Police Department.”

On Thursday, hundreds of the school's students walked out of class and peacefully marched in protest at the University of California, Berkeley.

Later that day, after figuring out who was responsible, Pasarow said school officials are concerned about possible retaliation against the student, and will not release any details that could be used for public identification, such as age, gender or race.

“My sense is the student acted alone,” he said. “The consequences are going to be pretty intensive.”

Pasarow also said he did not believe the student had “a real intention of harm.”

The messages called for a public lynching Dec. 9.