Community outraged after student posts blackface videos on social media: 'Racists need to be flushed out'

Mahira Dayal
Updated

Residents in Fresno, Calif., are furious after a 15-year-old girl recorded videos of herself in blackface on Snapchat using offensive and racist language.

The girl — whose name has not been released because she is a minor —is a student at Bullard High School.

The Los Angeles Times reported that the videos began circulating on Snapchat on Wednesday and Thursday. They gained traction on Facebook on Friday, when Stacy Williams, a community activist, posted a snippet of the blackface video.

“Bullard high school is covering this up! Who's daughter is this? Cheerleader! Why the silence, local news is aware, won't touch it,” she wrote in the post and shared the accompanying videos of the student.

Bob Nelson, Superintendent of Fresno Unified School District took to Facebook on Saturday to promise that the school will take steps to improve the problem.

“As an educational institution, we will do our part to begin a comprehensive program addressing the cultural proficiency of our students, beginning in the high school where this event took place,” he wrote in his Facebook post. “Ultimately, as we learn together, we will do better because we can make the determination to change ourselves.”

While the school will focus on racial and cultural sensitivity, Nelson pointed out adults need to stop reacting with hate.

“Yes, a young teenager made an incredibly poor decision and posted a deeply offensive video on social media,” he wrote. “But nothing productive comes from meeting that ignorance and racial insensitivity with hate, and that is exactly what has occurred in the resulting outrage expressed.”

Community members had mixed responses to his message, with some stating that as a child, she should be forgiven. Others claimed that it isn’t enough to address only cultural proficiency, and the student needs to be punished for her actions.

Candace Marie Fairly, a black woman and mother, commented on Stacy Williams’s Facebook post saying that the girl’s personal information should be protected.

“I feel her actions are completely WRONG & DISGUSTING. I don’t feel she should be exploited at such a young age and her future be ruined for a stupid choice like this because she may be able to turn her life around,” she wrote. “ We all have done dumb stuff! I def feel like yes follow through with the disciplinary actions but I don’t think her name and personal information should be on the news.”

However, this was not a popular perspective on Facebook, and commenters called out how the student wouldn’t be held accountability if her personal information is hidden from the public.

“This young adult and her parents need to learn that hate filled speech has consequences in the real world. If she did this in corporate America she would be terminated,” commented Raquel Roc Overall in response. “I don't care what her grade — if an African American student retaliated and caused her bodily harm her parents would sue. She needs consequences of what she deserves ZERO TOLERANCE.”

Others agreed with this perspective, expressing that racism cannot be ignored.

“Racists need to be flushed out and held responsible for perpetuating hate and violence,” wrote Sandra Celedon. “Racists need to be sent a clear message that our community does not embrace or welcome them.”

In a statement provided to the Fresno Bee on Tuesday, the student’s parents explained that the video was intended to be a private joke between their daughter and her African American friend, and that they realize how offensive and hurtful it was.

“To all who have seen this disturbing content, we ask for your forgiveness for the pain it has caused,” the statement said. “We want nothing more than to be reconciled with anyone who has been hurt by the circumstances of the past week.”

The family says that it has “not only imposed consequences” at home, “but have submitted to the consequences given by both the school and the district.”

Fresno Unified School District did not immediately reply to Yahoo Lifestyle’s request for comment.

Read more from Yahoo Lifestyle:

Follow us on Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter for nonstop inspiration delivered fresh to your feed, every day.