Almost 1,000 students walk out of school in protest over classmates' blackface video

Posts show teenagers harassing an African-American cashier while mocking African American Vernacular English

Around 1,000 students staged a school walkout after four of their classmates filmed themselves driving around in blackface and uploaded the video to social media.

The footage, which was originally posted to Snapchat, shows four boys wearing blackface as they harass an African-American cashier at a McDonalds drive through and mock African American Vernacular English.

At least one of the boys is wearing a sweatshirt from Homewood Flossmoor High School, where they have since been confirmed to attend

The offensive video has provoked a wave of strong emotions at the school in Illinois, about 25 miles south of downtown Chicago.

It was the latest incident involving blackface, a racist style of face makeup that dates to the era of minstrel shows in the early 1800s, at a high school.

The episode was coupled with another in Maryland, where two students posted an image of themselves on social media and used the n-word to describe the photo.

School administrators in Homewood-Flossmoor Community High School District 233 said they were first alerted to the video on Sunday morning, after calls and emails flooded in about offensive social media posts from a handful of students. The school administration quickly met with “all of the families and students involved,” the district's superintendent Von Mansfield said in a statement.

But that failed to quell the growing resentment about the posts. A small group of parents met with Mr Mansfield on Monday to express their concerns, CBS reported. And on Tuesday, some 1,000 students participated in a walkout around campus, as school administrators said they supported their right to express themselves.

Many parents have spoken to local reporters about their disgust, including some who have called for the students to be expelled or disciplined in some other significant way.

“To see them representing our school in this way when I go out of my way to represent in a positive fashion is disgusting,” parent Derrick Spearman told WGN News.

At least four students were involved in the video in some way, school spokeswoman Jodi Bryant said in a phone interview. It is not clear how many wore blackface.

Ms Bryant declined to give more details about the incident, or the ages of the students involved. The school has declined to provide information about whether the students have been disciplined or not.

“Please know that we understand your frustration that the school district cannot legally share specific information related to student discipline, but do know that the type of behaviour these students displayed is not condoned by the school, and that we are doing everything possible to ensure that these students understand the ramifications of their actions and that appropriate consequences are received,” Mansfield and school principal Jerry Lee Anderson wrote in a letter to parents on Tuesday.

“We are thankful to the many individuals who have reached out to us and shared their thoughts, feelings and volunteered their support and services to assist our school community as we begin building a pathway forward.

"The diversity of our communities represents our greatest strength and will be the catalyst that brings us together.”

Classes on Wednesday have been adjusted to allow for a 50-minute period for students to have an “interactive conversation” prompted by the incident, school administrators said.

The extent to which the public school can punish the students for statements made off-campus and outside of school hours is not clear, given students' first amendment rights.

“We, of course, cannot detail the actions taken with regard to disciplining specific students; however, we can say that we are handling the situation as best we can within the limits of the Illinois School Code and applicable laws,” Steve Anderson and Gerald Pauling II, the president and vice-president of the District 233 Board of Education wrote in a separate letter to parents.

About 70 per cent of Homewood-Flossmoor's 2,800 students are black, but 80 per cent of its teachers are white, according to data cited by the Chicago Tribune.

“The mood during the approximately 30-minute protest, which shut down portions of Kedzie Avenue and Flossmoor Road, also was upbeat and jubilant,” the paper reported. “Students displayed signs with messages of diversity, inclusion and equality and shouted the traditional 'I believe that we will win!' call-and-response chant.”

Washington Post