SUWANEE, Ga. — A Georgia school district is investigating how a racist photo made its way into a high school yearbook, reported WGCL.
“Oh my gosh, this is real. It’s like, I can’t believe someone would do this,” said Aaliyah Williams, a senior at Collins Hill High School in Suwanee, Georgia. “It’s just shocking. I had no words.”
The photo shows another Collins Hill senior with an image of Martin Luther King Jr. edited into the frame. The student is holding a piece of paper with the n-word on it twice.
“My God. You let this slip through the cracks,” said parent Kavanti White. “You are supposed to protect our kids at all costs and once again you failed us.”
Principal Kerensa Wing issued an apology, saying the school is investigating to find out who submitted the photo and how it was missed before going to print.
“The yearbooks arrived this week and we began distributing them when it was brought to our attention that it includes an inappropriate and racist photograph. This is unacceptable,” Wing said in a statement. “Once this investigation is completed, we will take appropriate action with those involved.”
The yearbook was approved before it was printed, WGCL reported.
“They are supposed to proofread. I thought they were supposed to proofread and everything. It’s sad.” said Kahlil Blakey, who graduated from Collins Hill in 2016. “I wasn’t really surprised, things like that happened in the past.”
In 2016, graffiti with racist speech appeared on the back of the school and in the football stadium of the school, which is made up of 74 percent of black and Latino students.
“They need to get it taken care of fast because you have a lot of alumni, a lot of African American alumni, a lot of Latino alumni,” Blakey said. “They are looking at this like, ‘Wow, really? It’s still going on.'”
Seniors don’t want this lasting memory.
“I’ve had enough taken away from me already,” Williams said. “Now my yearbook is taken from me. I don’t want my yearbook anymore. It’s hurtful, to be honest.”
The school is planning to send a sticker to students to cover the photo, but parents and students want a refund and the yearbook to be reprinted, WGCL reported.