Utah High School Under Fire After White Students Wore Blackface At Football Game And Were Celebrated For School Spirit

By Kyra Alessandrini, Blavity
Reprinted – by Texas Metro News
https://blavity.com/

A Utah high school is under fire after two students were pictured wearing blackface at a football game. Pine View High School in St George organized the event with a “blackout” theme.

The students who painted their faces black won a prize for being “the most spirited in the crowd” and posed in a photograph that was published on the school’s official website, according to parent Edward Wright. The photograph has since been taken down, according to The Independent.

Wright said the incident caused his daughter distress as she attended the game. He noted that it isn’t the first time something like this has happened at the school. Though he’s upset about the students wearing blackface, Wright said the adults who failed to intervene are ultimately responsible.

“You could have tapped these young men on the shoulder, whispered in their ear and let these young men know the significance of this,” Wright told KUTV. “We all make mistakes, but in this age of social media and always being connected, there’s just no way people didn’t know. I’m a firm believer that ignorance is not an excuse.”

KUTV also said that a parent told them that “the students were even awarded a prize for best school spirit, and took a photo with the cheerleaders.”

The Washington County School District has since apologized for the incident, according to ABC 4.

The NAACP addressed the situation, highlighting that blackface has historically been used to dehumanize Black people in 19th century minstrel shows.

“In past history, the purpose of blackface was mocking … turning into a figment of the white imagination for entertainment. Blackface invokes a racist and painful history, dehumanizing Black people,” the NAACP’s Salt Lake Branch said in its statement, according to The Independent.

“This is a time for education to the entire school and the cheer coach. We, the NAACP ask that Superintendent Richard Holmes use this egregious act to educate his district about racism and blackface,” it added.

Steve Dunham, who works for the Washington County School District, said the incident should have been addressed as it occurred in real-time.

“This is where we as a district need to step in and say we came up short. Somebody should have stepped in. We are confident there were other faculty members there at that game and it would have been nice if somebody stepped in,” Dunham said, according to KUTV.

An investigation is underway to get to the bottom of why no faculty intervened, why the photograph was taken and who authorized it to be published on behalf of the school’s account. He added that the district will be working to address the issue long-term.

“Whenever an instance like this comes up, it immediately shows us where we are weak and where we can do better,” he said, per KUTV. “We are going to step in and try to reinforce some things with all of our full-time educators, all of our part time educators and all of our staff, so we can feel like we’ve done the very best we can.”