MANSFIELD, Texas — Mansfield ISD says a Lake Ridge High School student was seen in a video using a racial slur and appearing in blackface.
The video wasn't made on campus, but the district is taking a stand against the behavior and speech in the video.
Wearing a sweatshirt that said "clickbait," the Mansfield student appeared on camera squeezing a bottle of black paint and putting it all over her face.
"The video included a student in blackface and a racial slur,” said Principal Brandon Johnson in an email to parents. “There is no acceptable excuse or explanation for behaviors or speech that promote racism. These behaviors do not reflect who we are or aspire to be at Lake Ridge and will not be tolerated.”
"I saw the video and I was just completely appalled," said student Alan Phan.
Phan goes to Lake Ridge and saw the video on an app called TikTok. He then posted it to Twitter because it made him angry.
"It’s 2019," Phan said. "A video of that nature is just completely unacceptable. How are we supposed to move forward as a society if we have constant reminders of the past?"
Mansfield ISD parent Kena Aguzzi said she's disappointed to hear a student in her community would act this way.
"It's stupid," she said. "It is flat out stupid. You can’t even call it ignorance because it’s impossible to be ignorant about it in this day and age."
Mansfield ISD is a diverse district. About 33% of its students are white, 30% are black, 25% are Hispanic and 7% are Asian.
The district says the off-campus incident would be handled according to the district's student code of conduct. The principal told parents in the letter sent home: "We are better than this."
Not a single board member returned our email for comment.