FRESNO, CA (KMJ) – Fresno Unified’s Superintendent calling for systemic change in response to a video of a Bullard High School student in blackface that went viral.
Two clips from Snapchat show a 15-year-old Bullard High School cheerleader joking with her friends, in blackface, saying the “N” word.
Her parents say the video was posted Thursday while the student was at her friend’s house.
It’s causing death threats for the girl’s family, and pain for students of color, after the video was shared on Twitter and went viral.
Bullard High School student Amya Wilson saw the video and reported it to school officials.
“I just want everybody to understand – that this is a natural issue and it needs to be handled correctly and there needs to be a policy just in case it happens again because this is not the first time and it will not be the last time,” said Wilson, while speaking to KMJ outside Fresno Unified Headquarters, where a press conference was being held.
Wilson, a freshman at Bullard High School, was there at the press conference Tuesday, at Fresno Unified District Headquarters with Superintendent Bob Nelson.
As an African American student, Wilson found the content hurtful. She said many students feared going onto campus because of the racial slurs.
Superintendent Nelson called for systemic change as he stood, surrounded by local activists, church leaders, parents, leaders within the African American community, and Bullard High School’s principal, Carlos Castillo.
“We stand here because we had a failure,” said Superintendent Bob Nelson. “And failure is incredibly hard – but failure can be good if it moves you to something better and you fail forward.”
Nelson held a meeting on Monday, with many of the people who were standing behind him on Tuesday at the press conference.
Going forward, Nelson says Fresno Unified will hold cultural and sensitivity training and social media education, preparing for the 300 freshmen he says will enter Bullard next fall.
The girl’s parents released an apology, saying her actions go against what they teach, and asking forgiveness for the pain it has caused.
Below is a statement from the parents of the student released on Tuesday:
On Thursday, May 23rd, our 15 year old daughter was at her African-American friend’s home. Our daughter was painting her face with different colors of washable art paint and at one point painted her face black. Her friend filmed our daughter using a racial slur and posted it to the friends own social media account . Our daughter, thinking she and her friend were sharing a private “joke,” went along with it.
When we learned of this situation, we were distraught. We know the actions of using blackface and racial slurs are not only offensive and hurtful, but also have originated from a terrible history of oppression against African-Americans. Because of what we teach in our home and the values and faith in God we hold dear, we never thought we would be in a position to see our child say or do something that would cause so much anguish.
As parents, our desire is to raise our children to use their words and actions to treat every person with love, dignity, respect, kindness and equality. We have attempted to teach them to know the difference between right and wrong and to never use any unkind name or slur against anyone.
Because of the actions she took that go against what we teach in our home, we have not only imposed consequences in our household, but have submitted to the consequences given by both the school and the district last week. We are also in support of the cultural and sensitivity training and social media education to be implemented by the school district. We are having an intervention counselor meet with our family for one-on-one sessions dealing with cultural sensitivity training.
To all who have seen this disturbing content, we ask for your forgiveness for the pain it has caused. We want nothing more than to be reconciled with anyone who has been hurt by the circumstances of the past week.
We ask for your grace and mercy for us as parents as we try to teach our child about how any action, regardless of the intent, can create an agonizing and endless ripple effect on so many lives, including her own. We ask for your prayers of protection and wisdom as we navigate the difficulties of parenting in a social media world while also teaching our children to love others more than themselves.
We pray that God will use this to make our community more compassionate, understanding, and educated on the issues of race, and help our community to grow stronger. We appreciate your patience as we work with our family, law enforcement, and the school district to make this right.
Thank you…Parents of Bullard student
Click to listen to the report by KMJ’s Liz Kern:
