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Six members of the senior class of Desert Vista High School in Ahwatukee, Arizona.
Oh Arizona. You never fail to amaze. Neither do teens who don’t realize how quickly a photo posted to social media can upend their lives.
Surely by now you have seen the photo circulating on social media with six American teenage girls—flanked abreast, smiles ablaze—and the n-word plastered across their chests. Each young woman is donning a black t-shirt with a gold letter or asterisk on it. When standing together, the word “N-I-*-*-E-R” is spelled out.
Apparently members of the senior class of Desert Vista High School in Ahwatukee, a neighborhood of Phoenix, took a photo earlier that day for the yearbook spelling out “Best*You’ve*Ever*Seen*Class*of*2016.” Six of them got together later with the bright idea of standing together to spell out the n-word. Somehow the photo found its way to Instagram.
One Twitter user commented, “Just imagining the dialogue they had before taking the photo.”
Now we see more of how this foolishness came to be. Just imagining the dialogue they had before taking the photo. pic.twitter.com/KHSiHjBMZ3
— Shaun King (@ShaunKing) January 23, 2016
And … the consequences are starting to roll in. There are unconfirmed reports that the students have been suspended for five days but many think that this is not enough.
A Change.org petition began circulating on Friday calling for the students’ explusion as well as the firing of the school’s principal. As of Saturday morning, the petition had more than 5,500 signatures.
ABC15 in Phoenix reports that parents began contacting the station on Friday, and, predictably, a representative from the district weighed in, as did the superintendent.
“Words cannot express the outrage,” Jill Hanks from the Tempe Union High School District said. “What were they thinking? We had some students that made a really bad decision this morning.”
District Superintendent Dr. Kenneth Baca said, “It is unacceptable for any racial slur to be used regardless of intent. We need to understand that words matter.”
According to ABC15, Desert Vista Principal Dr. Christine Barela sent out a letter to parents on Friday, which read in part:
We want to let you know we share your outrage and disappointment over the actions of a handful of our students today. We want to make it crystal clear those actions are unacceptable and will not be tolerated at Desert Vista. Those actions do not represent who we are as a campus. We can assure you we will discipline these students in accordance with district policy and our student handbook. While we don’t discuss individual discipline, we can tell you that in addition, the obvious need for sensitivity training will be addressed.
It should be noted that in February 2014, a black teacher, Dr. Cicely Cobb, filed a federal lawsuit against Desert Vista High School and the Tempe Union High School District, making allegations of racial discrimination by students and a lack of action by administrators when she reported such incidents.
Presently, News12 reports that a local pastor and civil rights activist, Rev. Jarrett Maupin, said in a news release that he and others are going to meet with Superintendent Baca to discuss the incident.
Maupin said in the statement that the image should “give everyone a cause for concern” and that the meeting is to try to prevent such incidents in the future. The release also promised that if the parents and students aren’t satisfied with the school’s and district’s response, they may protest and file charges with the U.S. Department of Education.
The Desert Vista Black Student Union posted its own photo on Twitter on Friday with the comment, “The incident that occurred today at Desert Vista High School does not reflect the beliefs of the student body!”
The incident that occurred today at Desert Vista High School does not reflect the beliefs of the student body! pic.twitter.com/WkOQpkqtaN
— DV BSU (@dvhs_bsu) January 22, 2016
Read more at ABC15 and News12.
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