Video shows private school principal spouting hateful comments

January 17, 2018 10:38 pm

By: News Staff

Email: news@abc6.com

Twitter: @ABC6

WARWICK, R.I. (WLNE) — The principal at Bishop Hendricken High School retired suddenly Wednesday, in light of an inappropriate video of him using racist slurs.

A six-second video of now-former principal Joseph Brennan was discovered in which he uses derogatory language to refer to African Americans and those of the Jewish faith, saying "that way I can take care of all the n****** and the k****."

The context and date of the video are not clear and it appears to have been secretly recorded, but there’s no mistaking what the principal said, and all with a smile on his face.

In a letter to parents, school president John Jackson said:

"We will not tolerate inflammatory language in any context."

The letter also noted that as of Wednesday Brennan had retired.

The video was emailed anonymously to providence NAACP President Jim Vincent on Tuesday.

"I said maybe he’s repeating it from somebody else, but then he’s smiling. I know if I hear those words and I’m repeating it to somebody, I’m not smiling. I’m either despondent or I’m angry. So I said this is probably him speaking off the cuff, and this is who he is," said Jim Vincent.

He said the timing of the comments couldn’t be worse.

"We’ve been going through a whole weekend of Martin Luther King and President Trump, and then to have somebody that can just say those things and he’s in a position of power, principal of a high school, one of the biggest high schools in our state, it made me feel that we have such a long way to go," added Vincent.

ABC6 News reporter John Krinjak spoke off camera at the school with a couple of parents on Wednesday.

They said they had heard the remarks but declined to comment further.

But there was no shortage of reaction on Facebook from Hendricken alumni and others.

A post from a man named Nick wrote a post saying:

"The inexcusable statements of one man do not out weigh the value of the education of the thousands of Hendricken graduates."

Another man named Paul wrote:

"I’m not defending the language, but I would want more information about the conversation."

Finally, a post written by a man named Michael read:

"Disgusting language. Sad that people with positions of authority think,talk, and act like this when they are responsible for shaping the minds of children!!!"