A group of Missouri high school seniors wore blackface during their annual powder-puff game.
The school’s principal, Jennifer Schmidt, told the Riverfront Times that there was “nothing racial” about the incident.
After seeing the twelve Sullivan High School girls enter the stadium wearing blackface, Schmidt said her first thought was, “Oh my gosh.”
And then I thought, ‘Oh, they don’t mean anything by it. Just let it go. No one thinks anything of it.’ I didn’t think anyone did. Evidently, someone did.
Reactions to the photos have been lighting up social media since they were posted on Facebook by someone in attendance.
Many pointed out the lack of racial sensitivity, especially considering Sullivan is under 75 miles from Ferguson, where unarmed teen Michael Brown was shot and killed by a police officer, sparking protests nationwide.
theGrio: A brief history of blackface
Schmidt told RFT that it is common for the older girls to wear face paint in efforts to intimidate the underclassmen. She added the face paint usually consists of the school’s colors — black AND gold — however this year no one brought gold.
Whether done with malicious intent or not, the use of blackface by these teens represents the historical ignorance within many largely white towns.
In the late 19th and early 20th centuries, “blackface was used as a comic device that played on the stereotypes of black laziness, ignorance, or crass behavior for laughs.”
As North Carolina State professor Blair L. M. Kelley said, “Until we actively remember the ugliness of this history, people will continue to blacken their faces without recognizing the horror hidden beneath the paint.”
Follow theGrio’s Carrie Healey on Twitter @CarrieHeals.