Student at Sacramento private school accused of using blackface to bully Black peer

A sophomore at St. Francis High School in Sacramento was disciplined for bullying after using a black paint feature on Snapchat to imitate blackface and mock a Black peer, school officials and parents said.

The teen’s image was captured via a screenshot and posted to social media, causing the photo to go viral. The Black Parent Group, a group of parents of Black students at St. Francis, is lobbying for the expulsion of the student, who is white, calling her actions “racist” and “harmful.”

St. Francis High School officials called the student’s actions “completely unacceptable” and said preventative steps will be taken to ensure it doesn’t occur again.

“We are disheartened by the behavior. We addressed student actions immediately. All disciplinary measures were in accordance with the SFHS Racial Reconciliation Plan and SFHS Student Policy,” said St. Francis High School president Theresa Rogers in a Monday statement emailed to parents. “The two families involved have met to begin the process of healing and reconciliation.”

The Black Parent Group held a press conference Wednesday at St. Francis High School to address the photo, as well as a history of racism at St. Francis. Statements were expected from parents, students, alumni, community leaders and the superintendent of the Catholic School.

The Black Parent Group is an organization of parents that partner with the Black Student Union and the Black Alumnae Group to support Black students attending St. Francis High School.

Margo Scott, president of St. Francis’s Black Parent Group, said the two students, both sophomores, were once friends and had a falling out with each other.

Scott and the BPG are in close contact with the student affected and her family, and will represent the student as their unofficial spokesperson. The family and the student have declined to comment.

“We’re sorry this happened,” Scott said. “This hurts every Black student on that campus. We’re going to go to bat and change these policies.”

The BPG met with St. Francis’ president and principal on Tuesday to discuss reconciliation between the school and its Black students and future steps the school plans to take.

Just last summer, after social justice protests in response to the police killing of George Floyd, a St. Francis High School Instagram post showing support for students of color garnered more than 1,000 responses, many of which were accounts of negative experiences at the East Sacramento campus.

This story was originally published February 24, 2021 at 5:00 AM.