A high school student in Connecticut has been arrested after sending a racist Snapchat asking why his Black classmate wasn't "in chains".

The 16-year-old unnamed student was arrested on Friday, May 15, shortly after the image surfaced at Fairfield Warde High School.

Per ABC7, the teen was charged with second-degree breach of peace and ridicule on account of creed, religion, color, denomination, nationality, or race.

In the image, Jamar Medor, also 16, was circled as he sat at his desk. The photo was captioned: "Why is there a n***** in my homeroom? Why is he not in chains?"

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Opening up about what it was like to see the image and hateful writing, Jamar told WABC: "I just had no words when I saw it. I was so confused."

Jamar's mom Judith was outraged, telling the outlet: "I was like… oh my god. My mouth just dropped because I couldn't believe it – how the other student would do something like this regarding my son. I don't know what he's going to do to my son. That's the reason why I'm worried for his safety."

She added: "I want that child to be expelled from the school."

The incident has the basketball team member too scared to return to school. He told the outlet: "I just don't feel comfortable going to school or walking the halls, so I stayed home today actually."

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The unnamed student was suspended for 10 days following the ordeal, however, thousands of people have slammed the slap on the wrist punishment.

Over 29,000 people have signed a petition calling for the racist student's expulsion.

Mom Judith also told Patch: "I'm not going to rest until I find justice for my son. I stand against racism, so we're going to have to do anything in our power to stop it."

After news of the picture emerged, Head Principal Paul Cavanna sent two messages to parents, one of which announced "an effort to create a long-term plan to foster unity".

He said: "As a school community, we must take a stand against intolerance and treat each other with respect and dignity."

Featured image credit: Jacob Lund / Alamy

Teen student arrested for racist Snapchat asking why Black classmate is 'not in chains'