Maybe Don’t Use Your Face Mask to Be Racist

A white, blond-haired Kansas State University student has been expelled from school after Snapchatting a photo of herself and a friend wearing black clay face masks with the caption “Feels good to finally be a nigga.”

The young woman, Paige Shoemaker, posted the image to her Snapchat story, meaning it could be seen by any of her followers, on Tuesday night. But the trouble started when a fellow student, Desmund Weathers, posted the image to Twitter, where it swiftly went viral — prompting public outcry, a formal response from the university, and a Facebook apology by Shoemaker on behalf of herself and her friend, Sadie Meier.

“We clearly understand that what was said and done was completely disrespectful,” she wrote, in part, in her Thursday post, since shared more than 1,300 times. “I did want to inform everyone that it was NOT ‘black face,’ but it was a L’Oréal clay facial mask. The signs that were thrown also is an inside joke between our friends that represents ‘West Coast is the best coast.’ We never intended for the picture to offend anyone.”

Shoemaker added, “We accept that there will be people who won’t forgive us, but something had to be said. Ask anyone who knows us, we are the most accepting and least racist people. We know that we will ride up and learn from this mistake. We will be better. … We know what we did was wrong.”

Kansas State University interim associate provost for diversity Zelia Wiley addressed the situation with a post to the school’s website on Thursday. “On Sept. 15, the university received notice that a derogatory social message and photo was sent out via social media. The involved person is not currently enrolled at the university. It is our understanding the second individual in the photo is not associated with the university,” Wiley began. “This racially offensive photo with a derogatory message has upset the K-State family and is not in concert with our principles of community. Such messages on social media are harmful to all.”

She concluded, “As members of the K-State family, we should always visualize and work toward a safe, welcoming environment for our community. I and other members of the CCRT [Campus Climate Response Team] welcome the opportunity to speak with our affected students and employees as we continue create a culture of inclusion for the entire K-State family.”

The message was in response to the hundreds of messages that flooded the university’s Facebook page.

The post of Shoemaker’s Snapchat image, by @JustDesmund with the caption “Welcome to Kansas State University. Where breakfast in the morning is some K-State Family with a side of Racism,” has been retweeted more than 14,000 times. It’s prompted tweets of support, from “smfh this is so unacceptable” to “Truly indefensible. There are complete morons out there, and sadly Trump has empowered/brought out some of the worst of them,” but also plenty of comments suggesting he was taking Shoemaker’s post too seriously.

Shoemaker, speaking on camera to local news station WGAL, said, “Well, I would’ve been a senior” before being kicked out of school. She then added, about her use of “nigga” in the caption, “That word just kind of happens in our friend group, ’cause we know … we’re a big family, so that word does not offend anyone in our group.”

Civil rights journalist Shaun King was among those who retweeted the image, without comment, spurring a lengthy dialogue on oppression, blackface, and racist intent.

In addition to getting booted from school, the young woman’s former sorority, Zeta Tau Alpha, made it clear she was no longer in the sisterhood. “While she did join the Beta Upsilon Chapter at Kansas State University in 2013, she has not been a member since spring 2015 and is no longer affiliated with the organization in any capacity,” a Facebook post noted about Shoemaker. “Her words and actions certainly do not reflect the values and principles of Zeta Tau Alpha. Our Creed teaches us to look for the good in everyone and to seek understanding in order to gain true wisdom.”