High School Kids Arrange Their T-Shirts To Spell Racist, Hateful Messages; School Unhappy

NY Post- A group of high school students in California will be disciplined for photos during a sponsored event that appeared on social media last week spelling out racial and homophobic slurs, district official said.

Former students told KGTV that school officials traditionally allow seniors to wear shirts that display pre-approved messages at the annual event, but some teens took it upon themselves to “make a poor decision that is not aligned with the schools’ or districts’ culture and values,” according to a statement released by the school. 

“A few students decided to spell out some dumb stuff to be funny in the moment, I guess, but that’s not us or what most of us believe,” Nyla McGlory told BuzzFeed News. “Nothing like this has ever really happened before.”

You know that old saying, be careful what you wish for? Clearly, the administrators at Escondido Union High School had hoped to showcase how far their students have come over the years. In having them wear assorted letters on their t-shirts, the school hoped to display the students’ team-building skills and literacy. “Arrange thyselves in pithy messages!” said the language arts teacher. And so they did. Or so they thought.

You can’t expect kids not to do something like this. Sure, you hope they’ll spell “fart” or “vagina” or something harmless. But California has always been on the leading edge, and Californian kids grow up so fast. They’re skipping class and doing drugs at a much younger age than kids who grow up in Rhode Island. So what did you expect, Escondido high school administrators?

How about the exclamation mark kid? His punishment should be more severe, I think. He turns it from a stupid, racist prank into an impassioned, hateful message. You could have argued that the rest of the kids didn’t really mean it until he stepped in, conveying a forceful tone. Also, the first two N’s are so unnecessary. Makes you read it in slow-motion, like you’re struggling to get it out, and nobody wants to linger while saying the N-word. Right?

Now, I don’t mean to make assumptions, and obviously it’s not the clearest photo to start with. But… it seems like the kid in the red shirt is… uhm… (insert your own racial assumption here)? And he’s smiling. So if he was cool with it, maybe it confused the other kids and made them think it was ok? Just spitballing here.

Thank God they didn’t spell Ginger though. Same exact letters. This blog would have a very different tone. Dodged a bullet there.