LANCASTER COUNTY, S.C. — A South Carolina high school student is in trouble because the district said he painted a racial slur on his chest on campus.
The Lancaster County School District said they started investigating after a photo from Indian Land High School surfaced on social media.
According to district officials, it happened at a home football game at the end of August, but it wasn’t until Monday when the photo started spreading on social media that it eventually grabbed the attention of school leadership.
Channel 9 blurred the racial slur and the student’s face along with some other curse words in the photo below. The district said the photo shows a student with the slur written across his chest before the game.
“It’s sad to see stuff like that,” said Earnest Nunez. “It’s just sad how parents can allow their children to do something like that.”
Nunez is a father himself in Indian Land and told Channel 9 that he was stunned when he saw the photo.
The school district said the student was getting ready to take part in a student-led fan group called the “12th Man” and said the slur was painted on his chest in the parking lot before the game.
The Director of Communication and Safety for the district, Bryan Vaughn, said that was when the other students in the fan group stepped in.
“Once the individuals who were around him saw what he did, I think they told him, ‘That’s inappropriate, that’s wrong, we don’t want a part of that,’ and I think that is why he, in turn, covered it up,” Vaughn said.
He said since he covered it up, the slur was never seen at the game and it wasn’t until the photo made rounds on social media that school officials found out.
“Once we became aware of it, administration launched an investigation to try to figure out when, where, how,” Vaughn said.
The district said the student is no longer on campus, but wouldn’t give details on whether he was suspended or expelled.
While the Lancaster County School District continues to investigate, they said their focus is now making sure students know they won’t stand for things like this.
“Certainly, anything of that nature, anything that is offensive, anything that has a negative undertone, that is hurtful speech in any way, is something that our school district doesn’t condone and we certainly don’t tolerate it,” Vaughn said.
Nunez said he agrees with that message and hopes lessons will be learned.
“Just to be respectful to each other, you know. Everybody’s the same on the inside, on the outside, just because we look different doesn’t mean anything,” Nunez said.
The district said the “12th Man” fan group will be paused until the investigation into the incident is finished. They added that so far, they believe that one child made a poor decision, and said it shouldn’t cast a bad light on the school as a whole.
(WATCH BELOW: Duke volleyball player: BYU response slow to racial slurs)
©2022 Cox Media Group
/cloudfront-us-east-1.images.arcpublishing.com/cmg/LH3JSJEF3VBLRJLJQESEAG34AM.png)
