This is out of control. Apparently in California you're not allowed to wear eye black to football games. Seriously.
MAKE IT MAKE SENSE!!!
I mean, it's not like this kid's out here Justin Trudeau-ing or anything. It's just eye black on less than half of his face!
Yet here we have another instance of fake racism making the news courtesy of the great state of California.
The eighth-grader, only identified as J.A. for privacy reasons, was photographed attending a high school football game between La Jolla High School and Morse High School with dark face paint covering his cheeks and chin on Oct. 13 ...
But one week after the game, the principal at Muirland Middle School called the boy and his parents to a meeting to inform them that the student would face a two-day suspension and be barred from attending any future athletic events.
A disciplinary notice said J.A. "painted his face black at a football game" and characterized the incident as an "offensive comment, intent to harm."
Principal Jeff Luna also reportedly noted that the face paint was offensive because Morse High School is "largely black," according to Cal Coast News.
Uhh yeah, because the team you played was black this means a kid with eye black on his face was being racist. That's the ticket, coach! We got ourselves an authentic case of that there racism!
So dumb. And quite honestly, just racist in itself.
Kid received a two day suspension and he's never again allowed to attend school sporting events all because of some eye black.
J.A. is working with Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression (FIRE) who wrote a letter to Muirlands Middle School Principal Jeff Luna, reading in part,
The claim that J.A.'s face paint constituted blackface is frivolous. Blackface is "dark makeup worn to mimic the appearance of a Black person and especially to mock or ridicule Black people." It has its origins in racist minstrel shows that featured white actors caricaturing black people, and generally entails covering the entire face in dark makeup and exaggerating certain facial features. By contrast, J.A. followed a popular warpaint-inspired trend of athletes applying large amounts of eye black under their eyes, which has no racial connotations whatsoever.
Again, Muirlands Middle School has no authority to discipline J.A. for his non-disruptive, constitutionally protected display of team spirit.
FIRE therefore calls on Muirlands Middle School to immediately remove the infraction from J.A.'s disciplinary record, lift the ban on his attendance at future sports events, and reaffirm the school's commitment to its binding First Amendment obligations.
FIRE also noted the popularity of eye black in sports, using this collage of photos as an example:
Yeah man, it isn't offensive or racist that this kid wore eye black to a football game. What is offensive and racist is that the school is making a big deal out of this and calling it black face. Black face can be racist; eye black is not. Sorry to inform you of this, Muirlands Middle School.
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