PHILADELPHIA (KYW Newsradio) — One week into Black History Month, two Philadelphia schools are at the center of controversy after several white students were seen in a social media video participating in blackface and using racist language.
St. Hubert Catholic High School for Girls and Franklin Towne Charter High School, both in the city’s northeast, have confirmed the involvement of current and former students in the video.
The video shows several white teenage girls in a room. The teens can be heard laughing throughout the video and shouting “Know your roots!” and “It’s February!” as one of the girls uses an aerosol can to spray a dark color on the face of another girl, who shouts back “I’m Black and I’m proud!” One of the teens in the video can be seen also recording a video of the incident.
The video has been shared widely online. Viewers should be aware that the content is highly sensitive.
“They created a video of racism. Blatant racism in mockery of Black History Month, in mockery of our ancestors who were slaves,” said Adam McNeil, the founder of Sista Talk PHL and one of a group of anti-racism demonstrators protesting outside of St. Hubert on Wednesday morning.
“To see teenagers so young be so open and careless about how they view their counterparts, and to know that St. Hubert's Catholic School for Girls has a small population of Black students, I felt as though this was something that revolved around ethnic intimidation and a hate crime to say the least.”
St. Hubert confirmed the involvement of three students and posted a response on Facebook late Tuesday, reading in part, "As a Catholic educational institution that seeks to form Women of Faith and Integrity, we view racism as a mortal sin. There is no place for it in our hearts and minds and there is no tolerance for such behavior at Saint Hubert's.”
On Wednesday morning, a second communication to St. Hubert families confirmed the school is continuing its investigation and has begun disciplinary action against the students identified in the video. It is unclear what that action entails, but the school indicated the students had been at least temporarily suspended.
"We recognize and understand that the actions of some of our students have reopened societal wounds in a deeply painful way. Those allegedly responsible are not present in school and are being disciplined appropriately. Should our ongoing review determine involvement by any other students, they will also face disciplinary action."
McNeil said that the school’s apologies are not enough. in the video when they posted a short statement to the school’s website.
“It's about a moral standard, and that moral standard is affecting the minority students that go there. so we don't want this situation to be swept underneath the rug,” said McNeil.
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Tenth-grader Julissa Lewis says she’s not surprised about this outrageous behavior. She said racism is what prompted her to transfer to another school in November.
“I transferred out because I had my own racial thing going on at that school, so I decided to leave,” said Lewis.
“The reality of St. Hubert is not what they post on social media. It's not how they say sisterhood is in that school. Sisterhood is only provided to the ones who take care for. African Americans are not a part of the sisterhood at all.”
Lewis’s dad, Lamar Martin, said he also experienced racism as a former coach at St. Hubert’s.
“I felt as though had that video, had it not went viral and went all over social media, I don't think they would have addressed it the way they addressed it,’ said Martin.
“I think they would have sort of kept it in house and try to act like it never happened.”
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Martin said the disturbing video speaks to the experiences he has personally had at the school.
“A lot of African American students try to bring issues to the president [of the school], to the principal, and they sort of sweep it under the rug.”
St. Hubert’s wrote in one of their statements that they had previously been working closely with the Anti-Defamation League to provide programming that would lead to a “no place for hate” designation.
ADL Regional Director Andrew Goretsky confirmed with KYW Newsradio that the school reached out to the ADL’s education team on Wednesday, but they had not yet spoken.
He says the ADL was already scheduled for a professional development workshop with St. Huberts at the end of the month, something unrelated to this incident.
Messages left at the school and with the Archdiocese of Philadelphia had not been returned Wednesday afternoon.
Chad Dion Lassiter, executive director of the Pennsylvania Human Relations Commission, said this incident has the potential to be used as a teaching moment if St. Hubert’s is open to it.
“This is something that can be instructional, educational, but we need to also impress upon the young people that blackface is deeply rooted in the psyche of white supremacy in a country that wanted to negate and dehumanize African Americans,” Lassiter said.
“To really try to figure out why these young people thought that they could engage in such horrific, atrocious behaviors.”
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He said the school has an opportunity to educate the young people “on what blackface is, where blackface came from historically, and also just to do some anti-racism training in the school, with the faculty, with the staff, and with the students.”
Franklin Towne Charter High School administrators on Wednesday called out but did not name a “former student” who was involved.
“The Franklin Towne Community is both saddened and appalled by the events surrounding the racist video that has been on social media. We want to again take this opportunity to condemn this type of hateful behavior and condemn anyone involved in it.
“Franklin Towne is a school that values inclusion and will not tolerate hate in any manner. The former student who took part in this video, and any other students who may choose to participate in this type of behavior have no place at our school. The content of this video does not reflect the values and culture of our Towne family.”
