Chicago-area high school votes to reprint yearbook over racist symbols

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Suburban Chicago High School To Reprint Yearbook Over Racist Hand Gestures

When you order a yearbook you expect it to be filled with superlatives, fond memories and photos of your friends and school faculty.

What you DON’T expect is over a dozen symbols of white supremacy.

According to the Chicago Sun-Times, that is exactly what was inside the 2018-2019 Oak Park and River Forest High School yearbook. The school’s board of education voted to spend $53,794 to reprint the “Tabula” after they were made aware of the potentially offensive photos.

The upside-down “OK” appeared in 18 photographs of clubs or teams and was made by students of “various races, ethnicities, genders and grades,” said Supt. Joylynn Pruitt-Adams, offering new details about the controversy in an email to parents, students and staff Monday night after the board’s vote.

“The photos in question, as well as other club/team photos in which students are striking poses and making gestures, will be replaced with straight-forward group shots,” Pruitt-Adams wrote.

One school board member voted “no” on the reprint and gave a lengthy explanation as to why he is against it on Facebook:

Essentially this guy believes that racists organizations can now commandeer any benign symbol and make people react.

What are your thoughts on this situation?