Itâs official: having school spirit is now racist! A Muirlands Middle School student in San Diego, California has been suspended and completely banned from future sporting events after wearing âwar paintâ on his face at a La Jolla High School football game. According to Muirland Middle Schoolâs principal, however, this is a clear-cut case of blackface.
But you tell me, does this look like blackface to you?
This is a photo of the student in question taken at the Friday night football game. He wasnât the only student to have a painted face there, and there were no reports of him displaying bad behavior at the game. In fact, security guards and police officers were present the entire night without incident.
One security guard, who happens to be of African American descent, even reportedly joked with the student to make his âspikesâ bigger by adding more paint.
It wasnât until the studentâs parent was called into the principalâs office the next week that there was any indication that there was an issue with the studentâs face paint. Convinced it was a misunderstanding, the parent explained that a fellow student had painted the 13-year-oldâs face as an expression of school spirit â the style of paint for sporting events had become a trend on TikTok â and showed the above photo to the principal. Unfortunately, the principal remained adamant that suspension of the student would be necessary, and the photo proved to be âblackface.â
Here is the suspension notice given by the school. Notice the box checked that reads âOffensive comment; intent to harm.â
Now letâs look at the definition of blackface. According to the Merriam-Webster dictionary, blackface is âdark makeup worn to mimic the appearance of a Black person and especially to mock or ridicule Black people.â
The student said he had never heard the term âblackfaceâ before and didnât know what it was. An adult had to explain it to him.
So, if the studentâs intent wasnât to mimic the appearance of an African American person, and he took no part in mocking them, thenâ¦WHY is this poor kid banned from all future school sporting events?
Iâm not sure about you, but in all the portrayals of blackface, I can think of, well over half the personâs face is covered in black paint.
*cough cough* Justin Trudeau.
Comparing the image of the 8th grader with the photo of the Canadian Prime Minister is actually laughable. Does the San Diego Unified School District really think the two are the same? You know those activity books where you have to find the differences between two images? Maybe the principal of Muirlands Middle School should spend some time working on those instead of banning a 13-year-old kid from cheering on his schoolâs football team.
Libs of TikTok consulted attorney Karin Sweigart with Dhillon Law, who specializes in constitutional and free speech issues. She has actually worked on cases involving blackface before, including one where two teen boys sued a school in California over being accused of blackface. âThe Supreme Court has several times dealt with the issue of studentsâ off-campus speechâ¦there are serious constitutional problems on what the school did and with California law. [Muirland Middle School is] really not on very solid ground. Their acts are very constitutionally suspect.â Karin added, âI never thought Iâd have a niche practice in blackface cases, but thatâs something we dealt with a couple of times.â
âMy sonâs name needs to be clearedâ¦Itâs reckless to assume the worst in a child only because heâs whiteâ¦With such a serious allegation you would think there would be a thorough investigation of intent from all parties,â stated the parent of the student.
Neither the school district nor Muirlands Middle School responded to our request for comment.