A public appearance by a group of high school girls in blackface has left parents and the principal red-faced as criticism poured in after a recent football game.
The girls were taking part in an annual “powderpuff” football game in which they showed up for the contest wearing matching pink t-shirts and in full blackface makeup.
Of course the incident triggered immediate criticism, although the principal of Missouri’s Sullivan High School denies any racial intent on the part of the students.
Principal Jennifer Schmidt explained that the girls only painted their entire faces black because someone neglected to bring gold paint, as is traditional for the powderpuff game each year.
“So that’s what they wore,” Schmidt told the local newspaper Riverfront Times. “There was nothing racial about it. They didn’t have any other intention other than to just try to intimidate the underclassmen.” She added that the participants were “very embarrassed and shocked at some of the responses they’ve gotten, because I think some people had some stuff on Facebook and got the wrong intention.”
Schmidt said none of the girls were disciplined for their actions, but they likely won’t be permitted to paint their faces for games in the future.
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