H-F Students Walk Out Of School After Blackface Controversy

HOMEWOOD-FLOSSMOOR, IL — Nearly 1,000 Homewood-Flossmoor High School students spilled out of the building and flooded Kedzie Highway Tuesday afternoon in a protest over a blackface controversy that happened over the weekend.

A group of white boys posted images of themselves with their faces painted black on social media Sunday. The students who walked out, along with parents and supporters, staged Tuesday's peaceful demonstration to protest the racist images and what they said is the district's mishandling of the situation.

"They have a different set of rules for white students and for black students," said La'Shawn Littrice, a mother of an H-F student and an organizer of the demonstration. "The administration's lack of response is unacceptable and we want answers."

Kayla Duffin, an H-F sophomore, agreed. "We are here to stand up to H-F because we have a problem with the way they are treating this. So far, nothing has happened to those students. But if a black person came to school in whiteface, we'd be expelled immediately," she said.

The demonstrators marched along Kedzie in front of the school at about noon, stopping in front of the CVS drugstore across the street. Chanting "we want justice" and "no more blackface," the group demanded expulsion for the students who posted the images, as well as a public apology from both the students and the administration.

On Sunday, photos and videos of four white boys went viral across several social media channels. They began as separate Instagram videos and still images were pulled from there and shared on other people's accounts. The videos were shot off campus, and at least one of the boys wore a red sweatshirt with an H-F Vikings logo on it. In one set, four white boys are driving in a car; three of them painted their faces black. They were screaming in the video, but what they were saying was not clear. However, commenters on the post called on them to stop because the post was "racist."

In another set of video and images, the boys are seen at a drive-through window of a fast-food restaurant. They appear to be taunting an African-American female cashier, and refer to her with derogatory terms. They also appear to be using Black English vernacular.

Sophomore Stacy Norris said she attended the demonstration because she had seen the images and was troubled and offended by the behavior of the boys, whom she knew.

"I don't know whether to forgive them or just hate them," she said.

The controversy spread quickly throughout the Homewood-Flossmoor community. Irate residents took to social media to denounce the videos and called on the school for swift and appropriate action. By Tuesday afternoon, the mayors of Homewood and Flossmoor, and District 233's school board had all publicly condemned the boys' actions and social media posts.

Others defended the boys accused of making the videos, saying they were young and made a mistake. The mother of one of the boys said her son did not know what blackface was until he Googled it after the controversy erupted. He and the others were receiving death threats, she said.

Eric Russell, one of the activists who attended Tuesday's demonstration, said he found it hard to believe that someone today could not understand the meaning of blackface.

"That's an insult to us," he said. "Blackface portrays us a shiftless, minstrels, no good. But then you want to imitate us with the way we talk, with hip-hop and all that. You can't have it both ways. And we're not going to tolerate it."

School officials estimated that 1,000 students participated in the walkout. Other students who said they did not feel safe on campus were bussed to nearby Calvary Church, but the number of those students was not available Tuesday. Most of the students in the walkout were black. Nearly 70 percent of H-F's population is black and about 18 percent is white.

Junior Elizabeth Kruder, who is white, joined the demonstration with several of her friends, who are also white. "I am here to support the cause," she said. "We want respect and diversity in a school that is 70 percent African American."

District officials have said that privacy laws prevent them from speaking about actions taken against the teens, who are minors. A spokeswoman for the district denied reports that they boys attended class escorted by security guard. They were not, she said.

The lack of action so far has perpetuated the hurt caused by the blackface images, students and parents said. Teens such as Norris and Sean Allen were grappling with feelings of betrayal by people they thought they knew, and H-F, they said, were doing nothing to help them.

"I came out to stand up for my race," Allen, a sophomore said. "But this was a racial act and it was caused by my peers. I am disappointed because I was never expecting them to do anything like this."

Police from surrounding areas, including Hazel Crest and Oak Forest, were stationed near the campus and helped close off streets so the marchers could move down Kedzie. No arrests were made.

"We would like to applaud our students and staff members who participated. Our students were amazing and conducted themselves in a very peaceful and orderly manner," said superintendent Von Mansfield and principal Jerry Lee Anderson in a joint statement after the demonstration.

Also see:

H-F Students' Blackface Photos Rock Homewood; H-F Walkout Planned

H-F Releases Plans As Board Condemns Students' Blackface Videos

Peace Forum Held Sunday After H-F's Student Blackface Controversy

Jesse Jackson To H-F Students: 'Choose Direction, Not Complexion'