Yep, thatās pretty much straight up racistā¦ although they got a single day suspension? Utter horseshit and Iām sure their parents are pissed about that, too, because āitās just a harmless joke, and how can people ABOUT TO GRADUATE FROM HIGH SCHOOL possibly know any betterā¦ā
Ugh.
As a former resident of Arizona, getting someone offended by racism there is quite a feat.
The part that amazes me is the subject. I would have assumedāknowing many, many arizonansāit would have been hate towards Mexicans and Latinos.
There are good people in AZ, but holy hell there are a lot of bigots there. And the bigots donāt hide, which is probably why these kids thought this would just be a funny prank.
i canāt even fathom what would compel them to think to do this, let alone laugh about it, or think that it wouldnāt get seen and cause a crap-ton trouble for them.
Sorry about this, but obviously it is seen as normal.
someone saw that ni**er is writable with the shirts?
Iām more interested in the scene behind the camera - are the other 30 girls also in the room giggling about the great joke?
Thatās not fixed by suspending some students. Investigate the school.
I imagine a seventh student was not suspended.
Plausible deniability?
If it was released on snapchat it was shared privately and not meant for public scrutiny or to make offense, so no harm no foul for the participants. However for the party who took this private material and released it publicly, consequences should ensue.
Whether actually racist or just childish each human has the right to maintain their beliefs free of punishment; and to express those beliefs in a civilized manner, also free of punishment. As the participants did not create this image in order to make a public statement or incite anger or make offense their actions are clearly legal, and any harmful action taken against them is clearly illegal.
Iām not racist BTW, or a Nazis, but when I was a kid my friends and I drew swastikas in the gravel of the playground at school. We were naive in that we didnāt understand how offensive that could be, but wise in that we thought any offense taken over such a simple symbol being displayed was silly. We never received any punishment for our actions, but had we I would be upset about it still today.
Iād also consider this while addressing this situation: are those girls going to learn anything valuable from the suspension, or is it an act of vengeance; implemented to make other people āfeelā better or powerful or protected?
There may be a time in America (and the world) when we are all comfortable enough with who we are and how we relate to each other that any racial slur will be meaningless, or at least no more offensive than saying āfuckā on broadcast TV or in front of your staid grandparents. One could hope anyway.
That day is not here, and I hope these girls learned that rather than being defiant about it.
I guess itās technically āN1**ERā since thereās no āIā in the original phrase.
Not defending their choice, but the most non-racist offensive thing I could come up with, given the letters was:
TES**CLES
There is some severe limitations in that letter set for spelling bad words.
S*1T
eta: BEL1U or BEL1A
Really? First thing I saw was
BEST ASS YOUāVE EVER SEEN 2016
and that only requires shuffling a few people around.
Well, they are kids. It may even be that they are just doing it because it is a forbidden word, like kids used to use calculators to spell dirty words. Or, they could all be committed racists. You cannot really tell from the image.
A Jewish kid in a school of not many Jewish kids might still risk trauma from a surprise swastika at school. Itās not silly if your extended family died in pogroms or camps. School should feel like a safe place for everyone.
And there are additional and supplemental choices available to the school besides punish or donāt punish.
80085!
Well, those people can say it in rap songs, so why shouldnāt these privileged white girls be able to say it tooā¦ itās only fair, right? Otherwise ā REVERSE RACISM!!! /s
But yeahā¦ you think people would understand by nowā¦ But I think that @beep54orama is correct in that itās still rather normalized in many places.
