Two New Mexico high school students have been suspended after posting a racist image to Snapchat.
The Volcano Vista High School juniors posted an image of an African-American student surrounded by students whose faces had been digitally doctored so that they all had KKK hoods superimposed over their faces. The image was posted to the school’s Snapchat group, and students who saw it there reported it to school officials.
“It was awful,” said Mary Morrow-Webb, who is the mother of the student in the picture. “It was frightening. I just really got sick to my stomach. I was afraid for my daughters and for the other children there that are at risk for these types of threats.”
“You don’t expect your kids going to school and having to deal with racism and discrimination in 2017,” said Lamont Webb, the girl’s father. “It’s kind of appalling.”
Albuquerque Public Schools has said that an immediate investigation was launched into the picture and that two students were suspended for ten days. One of the students was also kicked off the football team.
“We took this to our police department,” APS Superintendent Raquel Reedy said. “They came and investigated and are really looking very carefully at whether we should file charges for hate crimes. This is something we’re looking at very carefully because it’s this serious.”