Two 14-year-old boys were kicked out of their Catholic high school in 2020, because a three-year-old photo of them in green acne masks was interpreted as "blackface." The day before, they'd posted a photo in a white acne mask.
A jury has ordered St. Francis High School in Mountain View, California to pay $1 million -- $500,000 each -- to the two former students and reimburse $70,000 in tuition. (My husband's three children are St. Francis grads.) The jury found the school had failed to do a proper investigation.
Parents of one of the boys claim the principal told them their removal was due to "optics" in the wake of George Floyd's death a week earlier rather than "intent."
According to the lawsuit, the high school supported a protest calling for the boys' expulsion on grounds they dressed up in blackface as a joke.