‘Insensitive’ Facebook post by Florence school upsets mother: ‘Who thought this through?’

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Royall Elementary School removed “insensitive” photos from their Facebook page depicting the U.S. Border Patrol and a Hispanic heritage display. (Credit: Royall Elementary School Facebook)

 

 

(WPDE) — An “insensitive” social media post from Royall Elementary School in Florence County, which has since been deleted, is upsetting many in the community.

In the photos, two of the teachers wore t-shirts that read “U.S. Border Patrol” standing in front of a brick wall, which was part of a display to represent the country of Mexico during an event Wednesday highlighting different countries. The event was part of Royall’s first week of school celebration.

Annette Fling is a Mexican-American woman with children enrolled in Florence 1 Schools. She said she is disgusted about how some teachers at Royall Elementary represented Mexico. Fling’s children don’t attend the school but became aware of a social media post from a fellow Mexican-American woman, who attended the event and was very upset over the teachers’ representation of Mexican culture.

The woman who made the post did not want to reveal her name, and her post on social media has gone viral with backlash from people all over the country calling the teachers’ actions “insensitive.”

The post read:

My daughter starts Royall Elementary tomorrow, and today they had a “Olympic parade” celebrating back to school with different countries. This is what they did that is supposed to represent Mexico. We ain’t Mexican but we were offended. They had border patrol.

We want to say something but I don’t know if we should be anonymous because I don’t want backlash on my child, or be open so we can make sure they actually follow up with it.”

As someone else stated in the comments & as we all know there were so many other ways to represent Mexico in the “Olympic Parade” Neither Border Patrol actually has ABSOLUTELY NOTHING to do with “Back to School” or the “Olympics” in case yall did not know! And a “Cantina” is also an inappropriate representation of the Mexican culture. The staff and principals at Royall Elementary should be explaining themselves immediately. There is absolutely NO way they thought this was OK. Those teachers should have studied the Mexican culture and thought this through more thoroughly!

Fling said she just can’t fathom how educators could be so insensitive to her Mexican culture.

As a Mexican American, as an Hispanic woman, as a mother of biracial Hispanic children in the Florence 1 School district. I’m highly offended, highly offended. These are educators with degrees that should have known better. Out of all the things they could have done to the culture, community, country of Mexico, they chose to use the U.S. Border Patrol. And Royal Cantina, which is a Spanish word for bar. Inappropriate, racial. Just all around flat out a disgrace,” said Fling.

She said it just bothers her that educators would think it was ok to represent her culture that way and to go on and share pictures of it on the school’s social media pages.

“Everyone is asking, like who thought this through? Obviously, no one did,” said Fling.

Fling said she talked with Florence 1 Superintendent Dr. Richard O’Malley and S.C. State Superintendent of Education Ellen Weaver when she dropped her children off at Delmae Elementary School Thursday for the first day of school.

She said Weaver directed her to her deputy state superintendent of education who said they would look into the matter.

Fling said O’Malley informed her that Royall Elementary School had issued an apology for what happened.

 

The apology reads:

It is with regret that we acknowledge that a picture that was posted on our Facebook page yesterday showed an insensitive disregard for the current challenges our Hispanic population faces. At Royall, we take great pride in our long-standing tradition of embracing and supporting every student who walks through the doors of our building. Our staff is unanimously committed to celebrating the diversity of our families and ensuring that each and every student at Royall is successful, happy, and recognized for his or her unique culture and abilities.

We apologize for our insensitivity but look forward to fostering relationships as we begin a new school year.

Fling said she’s not ok with the apology because more should be done to hold the teachers accountable for their actions.

To be honest with you, the statement as they stated was insensitive. It’s beyond insensitive. I felt like the statement was empty. Especially, when it’s empty with no action. I need to see action. It was inappropriate. It goes against the Florence 1 School district policy handbook for employees. And they need to be dealt with. If a child, would have done this in the school district. They would have been suspended. Kicked out, whatever the case maybe. Punished to the highest level or whatever level or whatever necessary. I feel the same needs to happen to these educators. These are not the educators that I want to teach my Black Hispanic children. Or any other Hispanic kids in this community or in that school,” said Fling.

 

The Chairman of the Florence County Democratic Party, Isaac Wilson, issued the following statement regarding the incident:

Royall Elementary School removed “insensitive” photos from their Facebook page depicting the U.S. Border Patrol and a Hispanic heritage display. (Credit: Royall Elementary School Facebook)

The Chairman of the Florence County Democratic Party, Isaac Wilson, issued the following statement regarding the incident:

Racism has no place in our community. I am appalled by the images shared by educated professionals but I am more disappointed that someone thought that this tasteless display was representative of Mexican culture. In a time where we should be bringing communities together to solve issues that chronically challenge us like racism and bigotry, this type of tone deaf behavior cannot be tolerated. Our schools should be at the forefront of educating our children in how to behave online and how to show kindness to the diverse populations who reside in Florence County.

Approximately 50 students at Royall Elementary will attend classes this morning with the impression that their school doesn’t see them or the struggles of their community. Words and images released online have power and permanence. The entire Florence Community should use this unfortunate incident as an opportunity to discuss online behavior, implicit bias, and the important contributions of our ever increasing Hispanic population.

Fling said many people in the Mexican American community in Florence may be too afraid to speak out fearing backlash or may not be fluent enough in English to voice their concerns, but she refuses to be silent.

She plans to continue fighting until she learns the teachers and any others involved in the situation are held accountable.

ABC 15 reached out to Florence 1 Schools and to the S.C. State Superintendent’s Office for a statement on the matter.

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