Of course he did. Uhhhh...he missed his entire head and mouth region.
A Muirlands Middle School student was suspended recently for wearing black face paint on his cheeks, chin and under his eyes at a high school football game in what Muirlands claims was a mimicking of blackface, or painting one’s face in dark, exaggerated makeup to mock or ridicule Black people.
Though the suspension notice cites “offensive comment [or] intent to harm,” the student’s family argues he painted his face after seeing his friends do it when he arrived at the game and that he had no racial motivations.
It isn’t yet known why the other students painted their faces or whether they also were subject to discipline. It’s common for football players to wear dark face paint to fight glare from lights, and for fans to do it in a show of support.
Neither the student nor his family members are being identified because he is a minor.
Muirlands Middle School Principal Jeff Luna said he could not comment about student disciplinary actions.
To try to clear his academic record, the student’s family hired the Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression, or FIRE, a Philadelphia-based free-speech advocacy organization, to defend him with the school.
FIRE said in a statement Oct. 13 that the student “attended a local high school football game [and] many game attendees wore face or body paint.”
“One of [the student’s] classmates painted [his] face while at the game” and the student wore the paint without complaints from other people at the game, according to the statement.
“My understanding is a lot of people were wearing face paint and he wanted to join in on the fun,” FIRE’s director of public advocacy, Aaron Terr, told the La Jolla Light.
Terr said the student’s father told him “the friend had an idea based on something he saw online of people wearing something similar.”
The family did not respond to the Light’s request for comment.
About a week after the game, FIRE said, the student and his parents were summoned to a meeting with the principal, where the student was told he would be suspended for two days for wearing blackface at the game and would be prohibited from attending school athletic events.
FIRE told the school in a letter that the student “followed a popular warpaint-inspired trend of athletes applying large amounts of eye black under their eyes, which has no racial connotations whatsoever.”
The family appealed the suspension to the San Diego Unified School District to try to keep it off the student’s academic record as he progresses through high school and college. However, the appeal was denied, according to FIRE.
Terr said this week that the decision to deny the appeal was delivered the same day FIRE sent a letter outlining its legal opinion that the student was exercising free speech protected by the First Amendment and that his face paint had no racial undertones.
“We’re hoping ... the district will reconsider the request for the suspension appeal,” Terr said.
The district’s policy also is not to comment about student disciplinary actions.
If the request is denied or the district doesn’t respond by Wednesday, Nov. 22, the family will consider legal action, Terr said.
“The First Amendment protects public school students’ right to free speech,” Terr said. “Public schools do not have absolute authority over students. They can punish students over free-speech issues if they can show there was a major disruption to the education of the other students, [but] there is no evidence of disruption here. It was a harmless display of school spirit at a football game.” ◆
www.lajollalight.com
A Muirlands Middle School student was suspended recently for wearing black face paint on his cheeks, chin and under his eyes at a high school football game in what Muirlands claims was a mimicking of blackface, or painting one’s face in dark, exaggerated makeup to mock or ridicule Black people.
Though the suspension notice cites “offensive comment [or] intent to harm,” the student’s family argues he painted his face after seeing his friends do it when he arrived at the game and that he had no racial motivations.
It isn’t yet known why the other students painted their faces or whether they also were subject to discipline. It’s common for football players to wear dark face paint to fight glare from lights, and for fans to do it in a show of support.
Neither the student nor his family members are being identified because he is a minor.
Muirlands Middle School Principal Jeff Luna said he could not comment about student disciplinary actions.
To try to clear his academic record, the student’s family hired the Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression, or FIRE, a Philadelphia-based free-speech advocacy organization, to defend him with the school.
FIRE said in a statement Oct. 13 that the student “attended a local high school football game [and] many game attendees wore face or body paint.”
“One of [the student’s] classmates painted [his] face while at the game” and the student wore the paint without complaints from other people at the game, according to the statement.
“My understanding is a lot of people were wearing face paint and he wanted to join in on the fun,” FIRE’s director of public advocacy, Aaron Terr, told the La Jolla Light.
Terr said the student’s father told him “the friend had an idea based on something he saw online of people wearing something similar.”
The family did not respond to the Light’s request for comment.
About a week after the game, FIRE said, the student and his parents were summoned to a meeting with the principal, where the student was told he would be suspended for two days for wearing blackface at the game and would be prohibited from attending school athletic events.
FIRE told the school in a letter that the student “followed a popular warpaint-inspired trend of athletes applying large amounts of eye black under their eyes, which has no racial connotations whatsoever.”
The family appealed the suspension to the San Diego Unified School District to try to keep it off the student’s academic record as he progresses through high school and college. However, the appeal was denied, according to FIRE.
Terr said this week that the decision to deny the appeal was delivered the same day FIRE sent a letter outlining its legal opinion that the student was exercising free speech protected by the First Amendment and that his face paint had no racial undertones.
“We’re hoping ... the district will reconsider the request for the suspension appeal,” Terr said.
The district’s policy also is not to comment about student disciplinary actions.
If the request is denied or the district doesn’t respond by Wednesday, Nov. 22, the family will consider legal action, Terr said.
“The First Amendment protects public school students’ right to free speech,” Terr said. “Public schools do not have absolute authority over students. They can punish students over free-speech issues if they can show there was a major disruption to the education of the other students, [but] there is no evidence of disruption here. It was a harmless display of school spirit at a football game.” ◆
La Jolla student's suspension over 'offensive' black face paint at football game draws objections
The Muirlands Middle School student's family says his actions were innocent and hires a free-speech advocacy organization to defend him with the school.
www.lajollalight.com
