A viral tweet from yesterday (Feb. 7) has already sparked a swift reaction. In the post, a woman identified as Coco called out two Philadelphia schools for failing to discipline white students who harassed Black pupils by posting racist videos on social media.
“Let’s talk about the WHITE GIRLS [at] St. Hubert’s [and] Franklin Towne in Northeast Philly who want to send racist Snapchats to my godsister and the other young Black girls at the school! Since the school doesn’t want to do anything, I decided to blast their faces!” the post with more than 18,000 retweets read. Coco shared two photos and one video to back up her claims. In the clip, a white teen sprays another white teen’s face with black paint while yelling, “You’re a Black girl!” She continues, “It’s February! You’re nothing but a slave. After this, you’re doing my laundry.” At least two other minors are in the room and laugh hysterically at the racist remarks while also choking on the paint fumes.
The teen in blackface yells, “I’m Black, and I’m proud!” as members of the group continue to laugh and choke. A caption on one of the photos posted by the teens read, “Celebrating Black History Month.” After Coco’s post gained steam online, a social media user found another video of a white female teen wearing a pink headscarf. She said, “I got the durag on. I got the power to say ‘n**ga.’” A commenter called out the Philadelphia students, saying, “This is disgusting and disturbing. They should be thrown out of school. As an alum, I will be highly upset if this gets swept under the rug. There is no place for this behavior, and it saddens me that it still goes on. I cannot stand bigots and racists.”
According to local news station ABC 6, the students seen in the footage are, in fact, enrolled at St. Hubert Catholic High School and Franklin Towne Charter High School. Today (Feb. 8), protesters gathered to demand disciplinary action from school administrators. Officials for Saint Hubert condemned the behavior. “Catholic schools in the Archdiocese of Philadelphia seek to form young men and women of character. We view racism as a mortal sin. There is no place for it in our hearts and minds, and there is no tolerance for such behavior at Saint Hubert’s or any Catholic School,” their statement read. Franklin Towne Charter High said they were “both saddened and appalled by the events surrounding the racist video that has been on social media.”
See the posts in question below.