Administrators at a Florida school district blasted a pair of students who wore sombreros — and one of them a mustache — for Seminole...
Administrators at a Florida school district blasted a pair of students who wore sombreros — and one of them a mustache — for Seminole High School's "Extraterrestrial Day" last week, calling them out for "cultural insensitivity" and saying the costumes were "offensive," Bay News 9 reported.
Pinellas County School District spokeswoman Lisa Wolf-Chason added her statement to the station that the students exercised poor judgment.
What happened?
Photos of the students spread on social media, with one including a caption that reads: "Was it wrong of us to dress as Mexicans for extraterrestrial day/alien day? Yes, are you dumb / No, that's funny," Bay 9 News said.
Administrators confiscated the sombreros and the mustache, the station reported, but they were allowed to finish the school day, Wolf-Chason told the station.
It isn't clear what, if any, discipline will follow, but Wolf-Chason told Bay News 9 that the district will "follow the Student Code of Conduct to address this issue."
"Extraterrestrial Day" was part of the school's prom week during which each day featured different festivities, the station said.
What did one activist have to say?
Domingo Garcia, national president of the League of United Latin American Citizens, told the station he hopes the students get sensitivity training.
"We need to make sure that they understand that it's not just a joke," Garcia told Bay News 9. "Bullying and especially bigotry bullying is not a joke. It's better just to say, 'You know what? We're going to respect our differences.'"
He added to the station that the phrase "illegal alien" is outdated and no longer should be used.
"We're talking about immigrants, refugees, who are coming across the border, women and children," he said. "To try to put them in that category of 'aliens,' somebody different, somebody not like us, again plays to that division and that bigotry that we've seen too much in this country."
What did students and former students have to say?
"They knew damn well it was potentially offensive to do what they did," graduate Denni Romulo told Bay News 9. "This is racist and demeaning, and I won't shut up about it."
Student Madeline Harnisher added to the station that she's "not allowed to wear holes in my jeans or leggings to school, but kids are allowed to dress completely racist? It just amazes me how messed up our school is."
"This is not OK," graduate Brandi-Shea Figueiredo told Bay News 9. "I'm ashamed to say that I graduated there."