Two students post blackface images

Two girls smeared black and red makeup on their faces and posted the racist images on social media under text that included an epithet for African Americans.

The unidentified girls, one in blackface and the other with exaggerated red lips, are local students, Somers school officials confirmed.

“During the last few days, Somers has experienced disturbing and unacceptable social media posts,” Superintendent Brian P. Czapla wrote in a prepared statement Tuesday evening. “When we learned about these posts, the administration conducted a comprehensive investigation and took immediate action.”

Czapla did not say what action was taken. Barbara Turner was shocked to see the video and posted and commented on it on Facebook https://bit.ly/2ISd48E. It shows text above a picture of the girl in blackface that says “I am now (an N-word).”

“Here we go again… DISGUSTING,” Turner wrote in her Facebook post.

She wrote that her goddaughter, also a local student and an African American, had shared the images with her. Turner wrote that the two girls “decided to make this video on Friday night and posted it on Instagram, Snapchat, and Twitter for the World to see and most definitely the African American students that attend Somers High School.”

“Our goal,” Czapla said, “is to continue to explore how we can strengthen our current educational programming so we can assist students in accepting and valuing diversity in our world.”

Simsbury school officials were confronted with a similar incident earlier this

year when a picture of two students in blackface appeared on social media.

In a letter to parents, Simsbury High School Principal Andrew O’Brien wrote that the two girls were home playing “makeup” with two boys, and the boys applied multiple colors to the girls’ faces.

The girls shared their experience online and quickly received feedback that the image was offensive.

They immediately removed the image and posted an apology saying they didn’t realize they could have offended anyone, O’Brien wrote.

“In conversations with the girls and their parents,” he wrote, “we explained that images such as this are offensive and have no place in our school community.”

Representatives of the NAACP sought a strong

response to prevent such an incident from recurring.

At a meeting in February, Superintendent Matt Curtis said work was underway to address the incident.

“There is no room for hate in this conversation,” Curtis said.

“When we learned about these posts, the administration conducted a comprehensive investigation and took immediate action.” — Brian P. Czapla, Somers schools superintendent, in a prepared statement