A student at St. Edmund High School is to publicly apologize to the student body for a racially insensitive posting on social media on Monday.
A statement released Tuesday said, “The Diocese of Lafayette has investigated a racially insensitive post that appeared on social media yesterday (Monday, January 21, 2019) in reference to Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Day. The Diocese has determined that a St. Edmund High School student posted the photo, which violates the school’s Code of Conduct and the Diocesan social media policy.”
The post showed white people eating fried chicken with the caption “Happy MLK Day.”
“Bishop J. Douglas Deshotel has mandated that the student who posted the photo apologize publicly to the high school student body immediately. Bishop Deshotel was deeply saddened and disturbed by the post, and believes that racism in any form demeans the human person who is created in the image and likeness of God,” the statement said.
In August 2017, St. Edmund High school cheerleaders were identified in a social media posting wearing “blackface.”
Monsignor J. Robert Romero, chancellor at St. Edmund Catholic School, apologized for the posting and stated “Racially offensive pictures are contrary to the values of the Roman Catholic Church and will not be tolerated in our school.”
