Six schoolgirls from Desert Vista high school in Phoenix have come under fire after an image of them wearing T-shirts spelling out a racial slur went viral, according to The Guardian. The image was originally shared via Snapchat but soon garnered international attention.
The offending photo shows the girls lined up next to each other to spell out the N-word in gold lettering and was posted to the Internet Friday afternoon, AZ Central reported. The T-shirts were worn as part of a senior picture day stunt where 36 students lined up to create the message "Best*you've*ever*seen*class*of*2016."
"They took the senior photo, all went well, apparently these girls went off to the side and rearranged what you see in the photo," Tempe Union High School District spokesperson Jill Hanks said. "We are just as outraged as everybody else. It's disgusting, it's horrible, I don't even know if words describe it."
The girls will face five days of suspension for the racist photo, but there have been calls for harsher punishments for them and the principal of the school. A Change.org petition has been set up, decrying the "blatant expression of racism and ignorance" and demanding expulsion for the students and termination of the school's principal, Christine Barela.
Tempe Union Superintendent Dr. Kenneth Baca said in a statement released on the Tempe Union High School District website that the students' behavior "will not be tolerated" and that "these actions do not represent who we are as a campus." The Desert Vista Black Student Union posted a picture of its members on Twitter, stating "the incident that occurred today at Desert Vista High School does not reflect the beliefs of the student body."
Desert Vista High School has scheduled a sensitivity workshop for Monday that intends to "provide teens and adults with tools to tear down the walls of separation, and inspires participants to live, study and work in an encouraging environment of acceptance, love, and respect," according to AZ Central. The workshop was organized before the incident occurred.
