‘People are truly hurt.’ High-schoolers spell racial slur with T-shirts at picnic
Outrage erupted on social media in late September after a photo surfaced of seniors at Escondido High School in California spelling out a racial slur with T-shirts.
The photo shows nine students standing in a line on a football field. Their shirts each have a letter, and when they stand together, it spells out the n-word, although the letter N is repeated three times at the beginning. The last student’s shirt is an exclamation point.
The photo originally surfaced on Instagram, and was taken at a traditional senior picnic event where students take pictures of themselves spelling out words with T-shirts, Fox 5 San Diego reported.
The words the students spell out at the event must normally be approved, but students often get together and make their own impromptu poses, the San Diego Union-Tribune reported.
“After the photo took place without any incident, one student started pulling individuals together, and started doing inappropriate messages,” a school spokesperson said, according to the paper.
The principal of Escondido High condemned the pictures and gave a speech about the incident over the intercom to students, KGTV reported.
“We are a campus that prides itself on inclusion and embraces diversity. We will not tolerate actions that send messages of racism and promote divisiveness. We will work with students, as well as staff, to ensure a respectful and safe environment is maintained throughout our campus,” principal Adriana Lepe-Ramirez said in a statement. “We all need to understand the power of our words and actions, and we must take responsibility for the decisions we make each and every day. At Escondido High School we will continue to work every day to build a culture of family and unity across our community.”
Students at the school said they were angered and concerned by the photos, the Union-Tribune reported.
“There’s anger and then there’s sadness,” said school spokesperson Karyl O’Brien, according to the paper. “People are truly hurt by it.”
On Friday, officials investigated a threat of violence to the school that was centered on its Friday night football game, according to NBC 7. The threat had been made on a social media comment thread about the T-shirt photo, O’Brien said, according to the station.
The game passed without incident, and the district released a statement saying it was looking forward to “continuing our efforts to collectively learn from yesterday’s actions by a few students further building understanding, compassion and mutual respect,” NBC 7 reported.
In a statement Sunday, principal Lepe-Ramirez wrote that the students involved were receiving consequences but that no further details could be given based on privacy concerns.
“Together, we have begun the process of educating all on the implications and power of one’s actions and decisions. This will be a continuing process and I will provide updates throughout the year,” she wrote.
This story was originally published October 1, 2018 at 9:47 AM with the headline "‘People are truly hurt.’ High-schoolers spell racial slur with T-shirts at picnic."