In the past two days, two high school students in California, A.H. and H.H., have sued their alma mater for expulsion:
The court ordered St. Francis High School to pay $1 million in damages to the two men, as well as tuition and living expenses after their transfer.
(St. Francis High School)
Why did the school expel them?
Just because the two of them posted a photo of applying face cream on social media many years ago, and the cream happened to be dark, they were actually recognized by the school as discriminating against black people...
It should be noted that "blackface" (blackface) was once a long-established burlesque in the United States, which became popular in the United States in the early 19th century, and generally had white male actors paint their faces black, imitate black accents, and play black slaves on the plantation for fun.
(White actor "blackfaces")
Because this kind of burlesque contains a lot of lines and performances that discriminate against black people, plus a lot of crude appropriation of black culture.
Later, non-black people deliberately "blackened" their faces were gradually seen as a form of serious racism against black people.
(White actor "blackface" performance)
However, this time, the two parties did not mean racial discrimination.
Because A.H. and H.H. have always had the habit of wearing anti-acne cream, and they have also shared photos of applying cream on social media from time to time, and this habit has been maintained for many years.
Back in 2017, A.H. and H.H. and another friend had a photo on social media of them applying anti-acne cream, but they were wearing white cream at the time.
（A.H.和H.H涂白色面霜）
A few days later, A.H. and H.H, along with another classmate, took another photo of the dark green cream, but the light was so dim that it looked as if they had deliberately blackened their faces.
（A.H.和H.H等三人涂深绿色抗痤疮面霜）
They also shared the dark green anti-acne cream they used, and these photos have been hanging on A.H. and H.H's social media since then, and they haven't caused any waves.
(A.H. and H.H. use dark green cream)
However, on May 25, 2020, George Floyd, a 46-year-old black man, died in Minneapolis after a police officer knelt on one knee and pressed his neck.
The incident caused an uproar across the United States, and the wave of anti-racism once again swept the country, and many things began to take a turn for the worse during this sensitive period.
At the beginning of June of this year, the photo taken by A.H. and H.H. three years ago with dark green cream was suddenly picked up by students at the same school and went viral among the students.
(Exterior view of St. Francis High School)
At this time, three years have passed, in fact, if you carefully look through A.H. and H.H's social media, you can easily understand that they do not mean racial discrimination.
But in that environment, this understanding seemed to be a luxury.
The people who spread it put together this photo with the head of Floyd, who was kneeling and killed, and accused A.H. and H.H. of insulting black people in the form of "blackface" and engaging in racial discrimination!
（指控A.H.和H.H“涂黑脸”的Po文）
After the photo of A.H. and H.H. "blackened" went viral among the students, it quickly caught the attention of the school's top management.
On June 4, school leaders called A.H. and H.H.'s parents directly and asked why their children were uploading those kinds of racist photos.
The parents of the two students tried their best to defend that A.H. and H.H. had been wearing that dark cream for more than three years, and they just thought it was funny to send it out, and they didn't deliberately "blacken their faces", let alone have racist motives.
Parents and school leaders communicated for more than four hours, but neither could convince the other.
Unexpectedly, after the conversation, Katie Teekell, the principal of St. Francis High School, directly informed A.H. and H.H.'s parents:
They were not welcomed at school, and two were expelled...
(圣弗朗西斯高中的校长Katie Teekell)
There was no investigation, and there was no arguing, so the school arbitrarily determined:
The photo A.H. and H.H. posted in 2017 was a serious act of racial discrimination, and they had to leave.
The sudden expulsion from school has dealt a great psychological blow to the two teenagers, especially H.H, who has just been selected for the school team as a promising rugby player and is waiting to show his talents.
After his sudden expulsion, he had to leave for a school in Utah just to play football.
(St. Francis High School)
After the incident, A.H. and H.H.'s parents began to actively take legal action, find a lawyer, and collect evidence.
In August of that year, the parents of A.H. and H.H. took St. Francis High School to court, accusing the school of "blackface" accusations against the two teenagers and demanding $20 million in damages.
The case began a lengthy trial, and after many fierce exchanges between the prosecution and defense, the jury finally reached a verdict:
It was determined that the cream-smeared photos posted by A.H. and H.H. had no racist connotations, and St. Francis High School compensated A.H. and H.H. $1 million, plus their tuition and living expenses for schooling outside the city.
St. Francis High School said it respected the jury's verdict but said it would continue to appeal.
A selfie with face cream applied many years ago almost ruined the future of the two teenagers, but fortunately, justice was finally returned.