Parents are outraged at California school after a controversial picture of a police officer in a KKK hood pointing a gun at a Black kid with a bag of candy was published in the school newspaper.
One image shows President Donald Trump lifting up a wig to reveal a Nazi swastika tattooed on top of his head.
According to Fox 11, several graphic cartoon images were grabbed from Google and put in the school’s publication The Paw Print to run with articles designed to create dialogue around polarizing issues at Bonita High School in La Verne, California.
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But parents say the school newspaper staff went too far.
“I don’t want my son seeing a police officer with a KKK hood on pointing a gun at a child’s face because kids are so impressionable that see these things and take it as face value and don’t understand or they don’t have the concept that this is just an artist,” one parent said to Fox 11.
The image in questions is designed to reference in a reference the shooting death of Trayvon Martin by George Zimmerman in 2012.
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The interim school superintendent Carl Coles wrote in a statement:
“There is a California Education code that affirms the First Amendment rights of student newspapers. The student journalist’s article does not represent the views of Bonita High School or the School District.”
It’s unclear whether school administrators reviewed the images before publication.
The provocative images and accompanying article “Artist and Activist’ were reportedly designed to spark discussion about how powerful cartoons can drive conversation.
The Daily Mail reports that the mayor of Laverne weighed in on the issue. Mayor Don Kendrick said the article was the result of a ‘very bad decision’ by one teacher. The same issue of student newspaper reportedly included articles on the school walkouts for gun control, abortion, rape and immigration enforcement.
The article has been pulled from the school’s website, and the issue is no longer being circulated on campus.
Censoring art?
The art work used in the LaVerne High School newspaper appears to be “A Tale of Two Hoodies” created by New York artist Michael D’Antuono.
The Denver Post reports that the artwork inspired a similar painting and controversy by a Denver high school student last year.
The piece, reportedly created by a 10th-grader at Kunsmiller Creative Arts Academy, was part of a public school art show in a city building.
The image reportedly outraged the city’s law enforcement community.
“This is not freedom of expression but an attempt to peddle hateful and racist trash as art! It is a racist message against police officers!” Butch Montoya, a former Denver safety manager, wrote in an e-mail to The Denver Post.
The painting was removed at the student’s request.