Put Down Like the Dogs They Are!': School Psychologist Under Fire for Racially Incendiary Tweets

In the wake of the Southern Poverty Law Center filing numerous complaints against the Jefferson Parish School System for, they allege, sending "a disproportionate number of black and disabled students to alternative schools to languish for months," the school is under even heavier fire after it was discovered that a school psychologist posted a slew of racially incendiary comments on Twitter.

The man, identified as Mark Traina, says he likes "politics, the economy, reading and expressing [his] opinion," in his Twitter description.

Fox 8 spoke to him over the phone, and he only said that the comments represent his personal opinions, not his work for the school.

Some of the worst comments include: "Young Black Thugs who don't follow the law need to be put down not incarcerated.  Put down like the Dogs they are!" and "We need to declare a war on Thugism in America.  Bring them under control.  Use the Hammer and Trigger Method!"

Another tweet ended:  "The Real Terrorist live among us!  Not over seas!  Right here and now."

Here is a screen shot of the comments, via Gawker:

According to a local paper, Traina both works in the alternative schools where students allegedly receive an inferior education, and he helps determine who is transferred to such schools.

In the midst of the publicity, Traina responded to the same paper: "Everything I said is fact-based, backed up by data. I don't have a prejudiced bone in my body. I'm not a racist. I'm a realist."

He elaborated: "This is just another way to harass the Jefferson Parish Public School System. One only needs to read the Times Picayune to see who the real trouble makers are. Sadly, it is disproportionately young black males. Everyone knows that our jails throughout the United States are disproportionately filled with black people. Why would the rate be any different in an educational environment?"

The school's superintendent James Meza has announced that there will be an internal investigation into the matter, and the U.S. Department of Education's Office of Civil Rights will be launching its own investigation, largely in response to the repeated complaints from the Southern Poverty Law Center.

(H/T: Gawker)