WOOD Radio Local News

WOOD Radio Local News

WOOD Radio Local News

 

Students to wear black after Forest Hills ‘blackface’ incident

GRAND RAPIDS TOWNSHIP, Mich. (WOOD) — Students have organized an event to promote solidarity in the Forest Hills school district after an incident that they say was an act of racism.

On Friday, a Forest Hills Northern High School senior who is white put dark brown makeup on his face in what appeared to be an attempt to make himself look as though he were black. Several photos of the incident were posted online and were quickly shared thousands of times.

Students who were offended by the incident said it was reminiscent of blackface.

Forest Hills Public Schools Superintendent Dan Behm said he didn’t believe the incident was racist in nature. He said he believed the student in the pictures simply found a bag of makeup that was left behind by another student and decided to apply the makeup as a joke.

The student wore what appeared to be a basketball jersey and a fake gold chain as well, but Behm said that appeared to be unrelated to the makeup stunt. Other students at Forest Hills Northern told 24 Hour News 8 it wasn’t unusual for the teen in the images to dress in the way seen in the images.

Bhem said the intent isn’t significant in the school’s overall response.

“Either way, the response is the same,” he said. “Whether it were intentional or unintentional, the response needs to be the same and this is that we look and we say, ‘How is it that this occurred?’”

Bhem said the incident happened in a classroom where a substitute teacher was present. Citing federal student privacy regulations, Behm said he could not discuss how the student was being handled. He did confirm reports that the student had not been back to school since the incident occurred.

Bhem said he was immediately concerned when he was made aware of what happened and anticipated the backlash. He said claims that the student in the images used racial slurs were untrue and that no student witnesses made such claims.

Full Story via WOODTV


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