On Tuesday, September 16, the appearance of blackface during a volleyball game at Whitewater High School enraged several and made headlines. FOX 5, WSB-TV, Yahoo! News, and other news outlets reported the incident.
For those of us who live in Fayette County, this is not just a headline. It is a wake up call for Fayetteville and our entire community. This is happening in our schools, in front of our students, and it forces us to ask what we are teaching and what we are tolerating.
According to FOX 5, Superintendent Jonathan Patterson said in a letter that the group involved included one student from outside Whitewater High School and several adults, all with their faces and bodies painted completely black.
In a photo posted on Instagram, each person had a letter painted on their chest, spelling out “RYLEE.” According to a Whitewater student, Rylee is the name of the student whose family members were encouraged to attend and participated in the display.
Hours later “Rylee” posted a photo of the occurrence. Viewers then reposted the photo with captions including, “our school is so racistttt” and “i think it’s time to leave whitewater?”
School administration and the district’s superintendent responded with apologies and statements. Whitewater Principal Krystin Hall claimed that they were not Whitewater students and were told to remove the paint.
“One of my teachers was talking about how some people tried to defend the family that painted themselves,” a Whitewater High School student said. “There’s no excuse.”
The bigger issue is why anyone felt comfortable showing up to a school event this way. In a predominantly white school, this level of comfort exposes how a lack of diversity can allow ignorance to persist.
For centuries, blackface has been diminishing and degrading. Numerous methods exist for voicing one’s opinion, but the fact that individuals see this as a way to do so demonstrates how far we have yet to come.
Blackface roots in minstrel shows and how it was used to mock and dehumanize Black people. At these shows, White performers intentionally painted themselves black with a cork and polish to imitate African Americans in their shows. These individuals would shape Black people as lazy and silly.
Actors used exaggerated and often fake “dialects” to make Black people sound uneducated or foolish. Big red lips, darkened skin, and ragged clothes were also part of the performers’ appearances, further turning black identity into a “costume.”
When people today paint their faces black, it brings back all those racist stereotypes whether they intend to or not. While these shows may be long gone, this event in 2025 is proof that racism is not as far from being of the past as some might think.
The NAACP responded to blackface at Whitewater and called for action. According to FOX 5, Fayette County Public Schools announced plans to work with the NAACP on cultural awareness training and to review its conduct policies to prevent future blackface incidents. The NAACP, however, is calling for stronger action, pointing out that the current Student Code of Conduct does not specifically address blackface.
We should not need cultural awareness training to know blackface is wrong. It is common sense.
“It’s embarrassing. Our school should be embarrassed. The administrators should be embarrassed. The family who did it should be really embarrassed,” a student said. “Y’all are grown. Y’all should know what that is. I have little siblings that know what that is.”
Racial insensitivity, like what occurred at Whitewater, is not just isolated to a single school. On September 23, just one week following the incident at Whitewater, Starr’s Mill Principal Jamie Voorhies sent an email to parents regarding a racial slur written in a boys’ bathroom. That slur was the n-word.
These events show we have to do work as a county to make our schools safe and respectful for everyone.
Education matters, but so does vigilance. It starts with us. Students, parents, and staff all play a role in shaping what is tolerated in our schools. Racism is a learned behavior, and it can be unlearned if we call it out.
From the motto “Demand Excellence” at Starr’s Mill to “Excellence in All We Do” in Fayette County Public Schools, our district sets high standards. It is time we match those standards with our action, ensuring respect, inclusion, and accountability in every school and at every event.
Anonymity was granted to the student interviewed in this editorial, because the student is a minor.
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