Montreal teens in blackface post racist video

MONTREAL — The West Island community in Montreal is reeling after a racist video laced with racial slurs was posted on Twitter by two teenage girls.

The girls, who are purported to be students of John Rennie High School, posted a music video with racist language and imagery.

The 44-second video, which had garnered more than 1,700 views on Twitter as of 4 p.m. Monday, begins with the girls putting on blackface makeup, and then shows racist images and words denigrating Black people. It ends with both girls shouting racial slurs together.

The video was brought to the attention of the West Island Black Community Association on Monday morning.

Association chairperson Kemba Mitchell reported the video to police, as well as to the Lester B. Pearson School board. She was told that the girls are enrolled at John Rennie High School, information that was confirmed to her by the Lester B. Pearson School Board.

“I could not finish watching it,” Mitchell said. “It’s hard to put words out there (about this) because it’s just disgusting. The amount of calls I received about this video today is unbelievable.”

She said the remarks were hardly made off the cuff, because the song was written beforehand and the images chosen and it was probably also rehearsed by the girls. The girls have also posted another video on Twitter, where they use a racial slur repeatedly, but that one was not reported to police. It only had 10 views on Monday afternoon.

“The fact that these girls thought this was OK, and that they took the time and put so much thought behind it, is very disturbing,” Mitchell said.

Const. Véronique Comtois of the Montreal Police confirmed police were made aware of the video and are investigating it, and said the perpetrators are minors, so their identities won’t be revealed.

Mitchell said police told her the incident is being investigating as a hate crime.

“(Police were) also looking to us, to calm down the community, because apparently these girls are getting death threats,” Mitchell said. “We don’t condone violence, but people are very angry and we want this to be investigated as a hate crime.”

After being made aware of the video, the Lester B. Pearson School Board posted a statement at the top of its website.

“We are horrified by the content of the video and we reject outright and unequivocally the tone and orientation of its content,” the statement read. “That this video is purported to have been posted by students enrolled in one of our schools is devastating. There is work to do for all of us and this incident is a stark reminder of this fact. We denounce racism and, as educators, we commit to work together with the community to lead positive change.”

Mitchell said the video shows there is far too much ignorance about issues being faced by the Black community both in Canada, the U.S. and elsewhere.

“Obviously, there needs to be training and workshops, because at the end of the day, this hate is taught at home,” she said. “The parents need to be held accountable in this situation.”