Salinas High School students deface, stomp and pose with Black baby doll Shaniqua
Trigger Warning - Racism, graphic descriptions of racist acts performed by children and young adults
Salinas High School students have come under fire after an Instagram page they created titled 'shaniqua.shs' went viral on Saturday night, August 21. The page appeared to have been created to mock and poke fun at Black people. A Black doll named 'Shaniqua' was defaced and stomped by certain students who then posed with it, revealed screengrabs from the now-deleted page.
Incidents of racism at educational institutes that left hundreds of children dead have come to light in the recent past. Earlier this year it was revealed that schools in Canada during the 19th and 20th centuries, including the Kamloops Indian Residential School, were responsible for the deaths of 4,100 indigenous children bringing Canada's dark history of racism to the fore. In June this year, a California school team hurled tortillas at their Latino opponents after winning a game of basketball. In April this year, a racist incident at a Minnesota school came to light as some white students decided to ask Black people to prom in a manner that was considered highly prejudiced. Big Lake High School students were seen posing with handmade banners that read, "If I was Black I'd be picking cotton but I'm white so I'm picking you. Prom?"
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Salinas High School students have been notorious for meting out racist treatment to many students of color and name-calling, mockery, and racial slurs are common phenomena in this school. According to students who have spoken to the media about this incident, they've said it's not surprising to see the photos of the defaced doll. They also said this was not an isolated incident and there were many occurrences of blatant racism happening at the institute among students and teachers, including incidents where students have got away with using the N-word.
Coming to the doll situation, the Instagram account still exists and it hasn't been deleted but the setting has been set to private. Screengrabs of photos taken from that account show SHS students posing with the Black baby doll which they named 'Shaniqua'. In one of the videos which have gone viral over the Internet, students were seen stomping the head of the doll and in another screenshot, an Instagram post was captioned with a misspelled racial slur. The people posing with the doll are mainly senior, according to various reports.
The Associated Student Body President of the school too posted the video of the doll, tagged the shaniqua.shs account, and captioned it, "Shoutout to my girl Shaniqua for pumping up the jamboree." An apology has been issued by the said person since then. A meeting is going to be held on August 24 at 6:30 pm between the Salina Union High School District's Board members which will also be joined by community members who will raise questions regarding the incident. A Change.org petition was started by students asking for the racism situation at SHS to be addressed and it has already reached its goal of 7,500 signatures.
Salinas Union High School District's Statement in full
"On Saturday, August 21st, Salinas High School administration became aware of disturbing images and videos circulating on social media. The administration promptly initiated a full investigation which will include identifying those who were directly involved.
"The SUHSD does not condone this type of behavior and although the District has taken steps to support our African American students and staff, this recent incident demonstrates how much more support is needed. We urge families to also take time to talk with their students about the damaging effects of racist behavior. Counseling is available at all of our school sites for any students who may need support.
"Racism and racial injustice are in direct opposition to the District’s values. Our District will continue our efforts to show that racism and racial injustice have no place in our schools. We are committed to maintaining a safe, positive school environment where all students, staff, parents/guardians, and community members are treated with respect and dignity. We will update our District community as more information becomes available," the statement continued.