Two high school students from Southern California will reportedly face ‘severe consequences’ after their racist ‘promposal’ sign went viral.
The sign, which was held by two white students, read: ‘BiaNa You are racIst. but I would Give anything for you to Go with mE to PRom’.
The capitalised, bolded letters on the sign spelled out the N-word, causing outrage among their fellow students at Palos Verdes High School.
The photograph was tweeted by fellow student Ryan Pascal, who has since called on Palos Verdes High School to take action.
Ryan also tweeted a screenshot of the letter she sent to her principal, Dr. Allan Tyner, urging him to take the matter seriously:
In today’s climate, No one is safe in an environment where racism is tolerated and joked about. We’ve seen the deadliness of hatred, and conduct like this heightens our fears.
That there are students on campus who do not recognize the blatant disrespect the words they used hold is a testament to the lack of effort we as a society put into expunging atrocities like these.
As reported by NBC News, Dr. Tyner has since released a statement saying he would be ‘meeting with all students, class by class’ in order to ‘review appropriate behavior and how the use of hurtful racial slurs like the one used on this recent picture posted on social media is unacceptable’.
Dr. Tyner reportedly email sent to parents Tuesday evening, which read:
We have been in touch with the identified students and their families to inform them that we are forming a response and anticipate severe consequences.
He continued:
I am heartened by the immediate response by our students and families on social media that make it very clear that our community does not support this behavior.
In the email, Dr. Tyner reportedly referred to the N-word as being ‘a slang term for African-Americans’.
School officials are now currently investigating who took the photograph in question, and whether or not anybody else was present at the time it was taken.
The Palos Verdes Police Department reportedly tweeted on Wednesday that they will increase their presence at area schools ‘due to recent social media postings’.
As reported by the Los Angeles Times, there has been a 65 per cent increase in hate crimes at Californian elementary and secondary schools during the period 2012 to 2017.
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Jules studied English Literature with Creative Writing at Lancaster University before earning her masters in International Relations at Leiden University in The Netherlands (Hoi!). She then trained as a journalist through News Associates in Manchester. Jules has previously worked as a mental health blogger, copywriter and freelancer for various publications.