A group of high school seniors in California were at a senior picnic when they decided to use their lettered shirts to spell out offensive slurs, such as the N-word and “fags.” The seniors at Escondido High School took photos with these slurs. Students are permitted to wear shirts that spell out pre-approved words for this annually held event.
This group pulled letters from the pre-approved words then posted the photos to Snapchat and Instagram.
https://www.instagram.com/p/BoPf-f9hhff/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link
Cade Pannell, an alumnus of Escondido High School, saw the video of the students on his Snapchat stories and was “shocked it came from my high school.” He decided to snapshot the photo and post it on Instagram where it went viral.
School Takes Action
After the images went viral, school officials began to investigate the incident. Although action has been taken against the students, it is not clear what punishment they face.
Escondido High School Principal Adriana Lepe-Ramirez released a statement on Facebook on the day the event occurred.
The latest statement was posted to Facebook three days after the event occurred by principal Adriana Lepe-Ramirez.
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Student Apologizes
Only one student has come forward and apologized. The female student did not identify herself in an interview with the Free Hugs Project. She said that the group involved all the top kids in class and that they “hyped it up thinking it was going to be so funny.” She went on to say that the students involved were good kids with scholarships.
She also described how she’s “scared to go back to school and she’s going to try to show people that’s not who she really is and try to redeem her name.” She also stated that she has learned from her mistake.
Anonymous Threat
One day after these photos were posted local police received an anonymous tip about a possible threat of violence at the football game held that evening. Escondido police sent additional officers to the game as a precaution, and the game was not canceled.