About two dozen protesters marched Wednesday night outside the Dallas home of a former University of Oklahoma fraternity member who was shown in a video chanting a racial slur.
A Dallas-area advocacy group, the Next Generation Action Network, said the peaceful protest was planned at the family home of Parker Rice. Rice has apologized for participating in the chant, which also referenced lynching and indicated black students would never be admitted to OU's chapter of Sigma Alpha Epsilon.
The Rev. Dominique Alexander, who leads the Next Generation Action Network, said protesters wanted to send a message: "We're not going to stand for that."
Someone placed a small sign in front of the Rice home that reads "Racism is Taught."
“You were man enough to chant such hateful words. Be man enough to step out from behind the door and acknowledge what you’ve done,” said one of the organizers, who would only give her first name of Mallory.
The Rice family hasn’t been seen at home since the video surfaced, and neighbors along the quiet street said they were going to take precautions before Wednesday night's protest.
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"We are going to get our cars off the street, and put them around back, because I don't know what will happen," said Dr. William Taylor.
Protest organizers are also demanded that the U.S. Department of Justice investigate all SAE chapters across the country.
“We cannot roll over with the history of this frat,” Alexander said.
Dallas Police Department Spokesperson Maj. Jimmy Vaughan said police planned to monitor the protest to make sure traffic wasn't blocked along the residential street.
"We'll try to work with them the best we can. They cannot obviously block traffic, they can't block the streets, they can't stand on people's lawns," said Vaughan. "So it's one of those things where as long as they're moving back and forth, we may have to set up some cones, work with them."
Tempers flared at times, but the one-hour protest was largely peaceful. No one was arrested.
“It's America. They’re welcome to protest, so I don’t have an issue with it,” said Mike Grimm, who lives just across the street from the Rice family.
Apologies Issued by Two Dallas-Area Grads and House Mom
Rice issued an apology Tuesday, saying the incident was "a horrible mistake" and "a devastating lesson" for which he is "seeking guidance on how I can learn from this and make sure it never happens again."
"I am deeply sorry for what I did Saturday night," Rice said in the statement emailed to The Associated Press by his father. "It was wrong and reckless."
Rice said in his statement that he withdrew from the university Monday. The statement from Pettit's parents did not address his status with the university.
Rice said threatening calls to his family have prompted them to leave their North Dallas home. He said Saturday's incident "likely was fueled by alcohol," but "that's not an excuse."
"Yes, the song was taught to us. But that, too, doesn't work as an explanation. It's more important to acknowledge what I did and what I didn't do. I didn't say `no,"' his statement said.
Meanwhile, Pettit's parents released a statement saying, "he made a horrible mistake, and will live with the consequences forever." Pettit also is from the Dallas area.
Pettit's parents, Brody and Susan Pettit, said in a statement posted online that their son "is a good boy, but what we saw in those videos is disgusting." The Pettits apologized "to the entire African-American community (and) University of Oklahoma student body and administration."
The apologies came after OU President David Boren expelled the two students who appeared to be leading the chant. He did not release their names. Boren said others involved would face discipline.
Beauton Gilbow, the fraternity's "house mom," issued a statement Tuesday that addressed a video from 2013 showing her repeating a racial slur as music plays in the background. Gilbow said she was singing along to a song. She said she was "heartbroken" by the portrayal that she was racist but understood how the video must appear in the context of the week's events.
A "house mom" is a housing director who might oversee staff and finances at a sorority or fraternity house.
NBC 5's Kevin Cokely contributed to this report,
