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- Archive 2019
- 2015 Elections: 11 new BME MP’s make history
- 70th Anniversary of the Partition of India
- Black Church Manifesto Questionnaire
- Brett Bailey: Exhibit B
- Briefing Paper: Ethnic Minorities in Politics and Public Life
- Civil Rights Leader Ratna Lachman dies
- ELLE Magazine: Young, Gifted, and Black
- External Jobs
- FeaturedVideo
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- Gary Younge Book Sale
- George Osborne's budget increases racial disadvantage
- Goldsmiths Students' Union External Trustee
- International Commissioners condemn the appalling murder of Tyre Nichols
- Iqbal Wahhab OBE empowers Togo prisoners
- Job Vacancy: Head of Campaigns and Communications
- Media and Public Relations Officer for Jean Lambert MEP (full-time)
- Number 10 statement - race disparity unit
- Pathway to Success 2022
- Please donate £10 or more
- Rashan Charles had no Illegal Drugs
- Serena Williams: Black women should demand equal pay
- Thank you for your donation
- The Colour of Power 2021
- The Power of Poetry
- The UK election voter registration countdown begins now
- Volunteering roles at Community Alliance Lewisham (CAL)
High School Girls in Racial Slur Shame
Briana Bell has just started as an OBV intern. She is a student at Syracuse University, studying sociology, and is here on studying abroad at Faraday House. We wish her here and with her studies
- Simon Woolley.
Six senior students from Desert Vista high school, a predominantly white high school in Phoenix, Arizona U.S, are facing criticism and national outrage after a posting to Snapchat that shows the six girls wearing t-shirts that spell out the N word.
The girls lined up, laughing and smiling while their t-shirts spell out this racial slur. This picture was then posted to Snapchat and almost instantly went viral and many people, including myself, felt saddened and outraged.
The principal, Dr. Christine Barela said that the girls will be punished, but didn’t give any specific details on what the punishment will be. We later found out the six students were suspended from school for five days.
The actions the school took felt like it was a minor slap on the wrist, and as such a petition was started on change.org calling for the students to be expelled and action against the principal who clearly didn’t expect the reputational damage the girls had brought down on the school.
It has gained over 10,000 signatures. Many of my friends and colleagues felt that both the ignorance and racism this photo expressed deserves much more than five days suspension. These young women are graduating high school and are going to be thrown into a world that will and should not accept this form a racism.
At the very least these student and perhaps the student population at this school need some Black history education, and basic lessons on what is and isn’t racially acceptable.
Why did these six high school girls think it would be hilarious to spell out this racial slur and post it for their friends to join in the joke on social media? I don’t know, but I sure do hope they have learned a valuable lesson on racism and the power of what a single image posted on social media can do.
Briana Bell