A Southern California middle school student’s parents report he has been suspended and banned from the district’s athletic competitions after the principal determined the boy attended a district football game wearing blackface last month.
The student has now garnered backing from an advocacy group that asserts the child was wearing face paint in a manner traditional for football players and spectators at such contests. The group contends that he should be permitted to engage as a spectator in the school’s sports activities.
A photograph taken on Oct. 13 at the San Diego-area football game between La Jolla High School and Morse High School depicts the boy, identified as J.A. for privacy reasons, with dark brown smudges on his cheeks, around his temples, and on his chin.
Following an examination of the photograph and five days after the game, Jeff Luna, the principal at J.A.’s Muirlands Middle School, called the boy’s parents in for a meeting.
The administrator labeled the incident in the suspension notice as a “hate incident,” noting Morse High School’s significant Black student population. It also noted that he “painted his face black at a football game” believing that act to be an “offensive comment” with the “intent to harm.”
The boy’s father told a reporter that Luna then banned J.A. from participating in San Diego Unified School District sporting events for the remainder of the year and imposed a two-day suspension on the student for violating the school’s policy on hate incidents, specifically related to offensive comments and intent to harm.
The boy’s father appealed the suspension but was denied.
The student and his family say he attended the game on his own free time and wore the makeup as a part of a TikTok video.
“He had a fun, great night without any trouble,” the student’s father said in an interview with Cal Coast News, adding that a Black security guard encouraged the boy to add more paint on his face.
With the support of the Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression civil liberties group, the family hopes to get justice for the boy.
“As the First Amendment protects J.A.’s non-disruptive expression of team spirit via a style commonly used by athletes and fans — notwithstanding your inaccurate description of it as ‘blackface’ — FIRE calls on the school to remove the infraction from J.A.’s disciplinary record and lift the ban on his attendance at future athletic events,” says the FIRE’s Director of Public Advocacy, Aaron Terr in a letter written on Wednesday, Nov. 8, to Principal Luna.
Terr followed up on Monday, Nov. 13 with a letter to Dr. Lamont Jackson, the Superintendent of the district, saying, “FIRE was disappointed to learn that the San Diego Unified School District has denied J.A.’s appeal of his suspension.”
He further asked if “the district’s decision is final and will not be reconsidered,” and would like a response to this query by Wednesday, Nov. 15.
The boy’s father says he doesn’t want his son to bear the stain of the blackface accusation, fearing it will prompt teachers and others to treat him unfairly as he matriculates through the school system.
He declared, “I will absolutely clear his name.”
