In the past two days, the famous Catholic St. Francis High School in California has lost a lawsuit against two former students of the school, and the school has also awarded $1 million in damages to the two students.
The cause of the lawsuit was actually just because of a photo of these two students applying face masks...
The two male high school students who were expelled were named A.H. and H.H., both former students at the school, and both were white.
Back in the summer of 2020, a photo of them wearing an applied mask went viral on the school's campus forum, causing controversy within the school.
If you look closely, the masks on A.H. and H.H's faces should be dark green, not black.
Here is the next point of popular science, there was a kind of burlesque in American history for a short time, "blackface".
At the beginning of the 19th century, this kind of performance, in which white actors painted black paint, and the content of the script was full of discrimination and stereotypes about black race, was very popular.
White actors with black faces imitate black accents and play black slaves on plantations in the American South for the amusement of the elite in the audience.
It is conceivable that with the progress of the times, this racist art form has declined.
However, it was this history, and the actions of A.H. and H.H. who applied face masks, that led to their eventual expulsion and stigmatization of black discrimination.
That's right, because the faces of A.H. and H.H. in the photo are too similar to the actors in the blackface performance, A.H. and H.H are directly labeled as "racists".
There was also a specific reason why A.H. and H.H. photos circulated at the time - when a black man Floyd was killed by a white policeman on one knee, and a huge wave of black rights protection movements broke out in the United States.
As a result, this photo of the two quickly detonated the comment section of the well-known high school, and many students and parents were extremely angry with A.H. and H.H.
But, are A.H. and H.H. himself really racist?
The problem is that this photo was taken by A.H. and H.H. back in 2017!
According to the parents, the two high school students, both of whom suffer from severe acne, applied a black mask that was actually a dark green clay mask that was said to be effective for acne, so they tried it and happily posted the photo on social media.
The day before the photo, they also took a similar photo with a white mask applied.
It turned out that the two took this photo to record this funny moment back then, and they just thought it was funny.
But after the Floyd incident in 2020, some of the two classmates made a fuss about the matter, logged on to the social media account of another person who had a backup of the photo, copied the photo, and posted it on the school forum.
It just so happened that at that time, there was indeed a classmate in the high school who was very insensitive to current affairs, and made the photo of Floyd being kneeled to death into a funny meme.
The memes and photos caused outrage among parents and students, who demanded that the "scum" of the school be punished, and some parents directly called offline protests against them online.
The school also immediately received a report, and the principal of the school decided to dissuade several students from the school in order to set the record straight.
At first, the principal approached A.H. and H.H.'s parents and said that it was best for them to withdraw from school voluntarily and quietly, and the school would not punish them, and would help protect their personal information so that the next school would not know about their "bad deeds".
(School Principal)
But just four hours later, the parents received a call from the school's lawyer, who told them that the children had been expelled.
After that, the news that the two were expelled for "discriminating against blacks" spread throughout the school...
In this way, because of an old mask photo, A.H. and H.H. dropped out of school and ruined their reputation. (There is also a third boy in the "Black Mask" photo, who is not from this school and has not been disciplined in any way.) ）
One of the boys was originally a fan of football, but because of California's intrastate transfer system, he was unable to participate in any official sports for a year after registering at his new school.
For this reason, the boy had no choice but to move to another state with his family, so he did not give up his love of sports.
The parents of the two boys resolutely refused to accept this series of trumped-up charges, and they jointly sued the school, accusing the school of violating the oral contract, and directly expelling the two without investigating the incident, which is illegal.
They are seeking $20 million in damages.
Now, years later, the outcome of the case is finally out — a local jury sided with the two students, and the parents won.
The boys were able to confirm that their faces were not painted with discriminatory patterns, but only dark green acne masks.
The judge set the award at $1 million plus reimbursement for moving expenses and other expenses for the moving students.
Seeing the verdict of this case announced like this, netizens think that this is the right way:
"I graduated from St. Francis High School in 1976. My siblings also graduated there. I was so angry when I heard that something like this happened to these children, so after more than 40 years of continuous donations, I stopped donating.
It is shocking that officials are in such a hurry to judge these children. A few years ago, I never imagined that the school would be able to make such a (white left) move.
I only hope that the children will receive more compensation at trial. Their reputation has been ruined. ”
"Growing up in Cupertino, I had a couple of friends who went to this school. It sounds like they are in a hurry to make a judgment that will stay with these children for the rest of their lives. 1 million is simply not enough after paying the lawyer's fees. ”
"This is a personal moment and schools should not be looking at such private photos of students. Glad they won. ”
"The administration of the school clearly does not have smart adults, and yes, it is nice that the court and jury are in favor of these teenagers. At that time, the school's judgment should have been better. ”
"They should prosecute the students who charged them. That's slander. ”
"The boys will use green to disguise. My son is a teenager who loves to play in uniform, with paint on his face and airsoft guns. Someone is looking for something to do. ”
I hope that the final result can be exchanged for a little comfort of the teenager...