A video posted to Twitter over the weekend has since made its rounds, showing a group of teenagers painting themselves in blackface. The teens, who attend both Quartz Hill High School and reportedly, Lancaster High School, can be seen in the clip painting a male friends face black while commenting “A white n*****.” Another teen can be overheard saying “Ooga booga n*****.”
The original video was posted to photo-sharing app, Snapchat, but later shared by a viewer to Twitter, captioning “This is DISGUSTING, get these nasty, prejudice kids in trouble.”
The Antelope Valley Union High School District has released this statement, in part:
"We were recently made aware of a social media video showing a group of teenagers exhibiting deeply offensive, and inexcusable racist behavior. This runs counter to the District's core values of integrity, respect for the individual, diversity, and community. We are working on identifying those in the video, while including our law enforcement partners, and will take action as deemed appropriate. We strive to provide a culture of inclusivity and kindness. We ask all parents, students and community members to share our commitment to compassionate and kind conduct both on and off campus."
The spokesperson also shared a letter to the Quartz Hill High School (QHHS) community, which read:
”While this video goes against everything QHHS stands for, we will not allow it to shape our school culture. Our true strength is in our diversity and our unity of purpose in creating an inclusive, compassionate, and safe school culture. When Summer School begins on July 01, QHHS Administration and Counselors will be visiting each class to reinforce our shared commitment to these core values.”
The students in the video have since deleted or changed their social media accounts.