A Snapchat photo of six white high school students stepping on a black student featuring the caption "We got us one" has many folks wondering how such a racist display was allowed on school grounds.
The students were reportedly participating in "spirit activity" at Moody High School in Alabama, and the picture was taken for "redneck day," according to Teen Vogue.
This is moody highschool. All I can say is that this is disgusting. joke or not. Y’all claim not to be racist but what does redneck day have anything to do with standing on a black boy? Shit lame asf. And not funny. At all. pic.twitter.com/Z7eWjtzhZT
— Cassssss (@cassidylew7) September 16, 2018
The pose and subsequent caption clearly have sundown town, slave and other racist connotations. Instagram user @agirlhasnopresident turned the picture into the school office.
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***Swipe*** This is from Moody High School in Moody Alabama. Every Friday during football season the students dress up, I guess as a spirit thing to excite the students. This past Friday was “Redneck Day.” Why you’d have a redneck day in 2018, is beyond me, but I’ll let that go for now. This photo is circulating with the students. One of those students (who shall remain nameless) happens to be a follower of mine and sent this to me. I sent it to the main office at the school, to the PTO and I’ve tagged several local news stations in Alabama. If you swipe through, you’ll see parents defending their kids who are in this photo, which I find disgusting. “This photo will follow them around forever!” “It was the black kid’s idea!” “My son is not a racist!” Ummm, I hate to break it to you cupcake, but everything about this photo is racist. And I don’t care if “the black kid” suggested it, why would anyone agree to stand with their foot on another human, with that kind of caption?!? Even in Alabama, which has a reputation for such things, as does my home state, this isn’t okay. The not racist thing to do is to stop defending your own offspring and concern yourself with what this type of behavior does to the other students of color who see it, or to their younger siblings and parents. I think they certainly deserve better than this.,Any school should drop the hammer on things like this AND redneck day! It’s 2018! Your vice principal is a black woman! Do the right thing and let this be a learning experience for these kids AND their parents! This should not be tolerated in and form, in ANY state! I’m in Tennessee and I see many trashy racist things but if this happened at my kids schools, I would be all up in their business until this was handled. Every kid in that photo should, at the very least, be suspended. It’s a learning experience @moodyhighschool Don’t pass it up. You have a responsibility here. The rest of your students and their parents are waiting….. @moodyspanishclub @moodydevilsden @mhs.seniorcouncil2019 @moodyfca @mhsmajos @moodyhscheer
Naturally, the photo received a lot of backlash, with one social media commenter saying, "It's disgusting, disgraceful and disturbing to see this picture and claim that there's nothing racist about it! Why are there so many people in this country so proud of their ignorance and backward thinking?"
Another commenter, Carrie Wilkinson, claimed one of the white boys in the photo is her son and wrote, "My son isn't racist and neither are the boys in this picture."
Wilkinson then blamed the picture on the black student, writing, "It was their black friend Nick's idea!"
Whether that is true or not is unclear. However, a school investigation found the black student, Nick Fuller, wasn't coerced into taking the photo.
"We have confirmed that all students involved are friends and participated voluntarily in creating the picture, which they say was intended to be a 'joke'," said school principal Christopher Walters in a statement to AL.com. "The picture is offensive and unacceptable, and it does not reflect the values of our school, our students, or our community."
"I didn't think about it when I first took the photos. I'd still like to say sorry again for anybody that I offended," Fuller, the black student, told CBS 42.
"If I could go back, I wouldn't have took the picture," said Austin Glass, one of the students pictured stepping on Fuller's back.
Walters said the school "will take appropriate disciplinary action" against the students involved.
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