Students win $1m after acne mask mistaken for blackface
TWO students expelled from a leading private school for “blacking up” won a $1 million payout after they argued they were in fact wearing an acne face mask.
A jury in Santa Clara, California, sided with the former students in a lawsuit brought against the school by their parents. They were awarded $500,000 (£400,000) each and $70,000 (£56,000) in tuition reimbursements.
The two teenagers, identified as H.H. and A.H, left Saint Francis High School in Mountain View, San Francisco after a photo emerged of them from 2017.
In the picture the boys, 14 at the time, are wearing dark green face masks, alongside a third boy who did not attend the school. The image went viral after the killing of George Floyd and the Black Lives Matter protests, with people interpreting the act as “blackface”.
The lawsuit claimed the masks were actually face masks used in the treatment of acne. However, the court heard how other St Francis students and parents believed the photo was a racist joke and pressured the school into taking action against them. The pair’s lawyer, Krista Baughman, told the San Francisco Chronicle: “They are young kids, their internet trail is going to haunt them for the next 60 years. Now they don’t have to worry about that.”
The school was found guilty of failing to do a proper investigation and breach of an oral contract. A spokesman for the school said: “We respectfully disagree with the jury’s conclusion... and are exploring legal options, including appeal.”