A white high school student risks losing his scholarship or having his admission into college rescinded after he was caught making racist remarks towards an African-American student in a video that is being widely circulated on social media.
The clip shows the white student, surrounded by his friends, in the high school cafeteria, telling the girl to "Go pick my cotton, it's that way" before he and his friends let out a chuckle. The girl, infuriated by his statement, smacks him with a cup of what appears to be milkshake.
"Don't ever say something like that!," she says as she splatters him with the frothy beverage before throwing the empty cup at him. The video ends with the black student walking away from the scene. Watch the video below:
Outrage on Social Media
The video has drawn criticism from the online community with some slamming the student for making the outrageous remark while others directed their anger towards the student's friends for not standing up for the girl.
"This is absolutely disgusting for someone to say 'go pick up my cotton,'" tweeted one user. "Using black history as way to insult is so disgusting."
"ONE young black woman in a sea of hostility and cowardly punks put the entire race on her back and lashed out with the approval of the ancestors," wrote another. "Shame on every living soul who failed to support her."
"Makes me angry that those students overwhelmingly think it's funny to spout racism in a conflict and none offered help or solidarity," commented another, while a separate user opined, "Everyone just standing around and laughing like that shit is funny. This makes me so angry everyone standing around watching this is complicit.
Student's Scholarship, College Admission at Risk
Although the identity of the white student or the girl is not yet known, the boy who was filmed making the racist statement could risk losing his scholarship and even his college admission, if past incidents are any indication.
In the wake of national outrage over systemic racism in the country, at least a dozen schools have rescinded admissions offers to incoming students over instances of racism that circulated widely online, as pointed out by the New York Times. Here are some of the examples:
A star high school athlete recruited to play football for Cornell University lost his football scholarship and had his admission revoked after a Snapchat video of him using a racial slur went viral.
Marquette University revoked an incoming freshman's admission offer because of a social media post mocking the death of George Floyd. Xavier University in Cincinnati also withdrew the admission of an incoming student athlete over tweets that included a racial slur and called protesters "thugs."
Additionally, Liberty Woodley, 17, the 2020 valedictorian of her high school class in Cape Coral, Florida, who was bound for the University of Florida was forced to make other college plans after the university learned of an Instagram post in which the student declared she was "most definitely" a racist.
