Photo of Desert Vista High School seniors spelling out racial slur goes viralSix Desert Vista High School girls are in the spotlight after a photo circulated on social media showing them wearing shirts that spell out a racial slur.
Friday was “senior picture day” at the Phoenix high school, when more than 700 seniors lined up for a panoramic class photo. It is a traditional event and common for students to wear shirts that spell out phrases.
A photo shows six smiling girls standing with their arms around each other, wearing black shirts with letters written on them in gold tape that, even with asterisks in the middle, unmistakably spell out the n-word.
The photo has a small circle in the corner, indicating it was originally posted to Snapchat, where photos disappear after 24 hours.
A different photo on Instagram shows 36 girls lined up wearing the same style of shirts that read "BEST*YOU'VE*EVER*SEEN*CLASS*OF*2016."
The photos went viral on Twitter and Facebook by Friday afternoon, where many people, including parents of Desert Vista students, called the photo racist and asked for the students to be suspended or expelled.
“That was not a school photo,” said Jill Hanks, executive director of community relations for Tempe Union High School District. Desert Vista is a Tempe Union school.
“That was taken off to the side somewhere and I don’t know who took it or who posted it. We found out about it when everyone else did, when it popped up on social media.”
School administrators must pre-approve students' shirts for the panoramic photo. The girls rearranged themselves after the school photo to take their own photo with the racial slur, Hanks said.