You would hope that education might discourage ignorance, but if this photo proves anything, there’s still a long way to go in stomping out racism.
A photo of senior students at Desert Vista High School in Phoenix, Arizona is going viral after the girls decided to form a racist message with their graduation t-shirts – uploading the images to Instagram and Snapchat.
While it’s well documented that the states is facing issues of racial tension, highlighted by the Black Lives Matter social campaign.
The girls were originally wearing the t-shirts as part of their school picture day, where according to Buzzfeed, more than 700 students gathered for a panoramic photo.
In full, the collection of t-shirts originally spelt out:
‘BEST*YOU’VE*EVER*SEEN*CLASS*OF*2016’
Image: Buzzfeed
It was then a group of girls took pictures of themselves smiling, spelling out ‘NI**ER’ and uploading the images to social media:
The images went viral on Twitter and Facebook, where other students, parents and observers called for the students to be suspended or expelled.
Police cars were then stationed at the school, where the students involved were questioned:
Several @phoenixpolice units on campus of Desert Vista HS after racist photo posted online. Latest #abc15 at 4pm pic.twitter.com/z9cWKqcOBi
— Lauren Vargas (@LaurenABC15) January 22, 2016
The girls were suspended for five days, but a Change.org petition is now calling for the girls’ expulsion, adding:
‘Six students at the Desert Vista High School posed for a photo op at the school wearing shirts that specifically spelled out NI**ER. The 5-day suspension the students may be receiving is not enough for the disgusting racial slur the administration seems to be treating as a harmless prank. The students involved need to be expelled from the district and the principal fired for allowing a 5-day suspension to be even remotely considered as equal punishment for this hateful display of ignorance and racism.’
Speaking to local newspaper the Arizona Republic, executive director of community relations for Tempe Union High School District Hill Hanks said:
“That was not a school photo. That was taken off to the side somewhere and I don’t know who took it or who posted it. We found out about it when everyone else did, when it popped up on social media.”
The Change petition currently has more than 30,000 signatures from local parents calling on the suspension of the students.
