The Sarasota County School District has begun to address the community after a Riverview High School student’s racist prom proposal over the weekend went viral, including reaching out to the Sarasota chapter of the NAACP. High school senior Noah Crowley, 18, sent out the "promposal" on Sunday over Snapchat. It shows a picture of himself holding a sign that states: "If I was black I’d be picking cotton, but I’m white so I’m picking U 4 prom." Officials with the school district responded to the social media post on Monday, saying it was "racist in nature." "Neither the school district nor Riverview High School condones or supports the message conveyed in the post," according to a statement. "This incident remains an on-going investigation and any disciplinary action and recommendation will be made accordingly." In the statement, officials said connecting community leaders with the student body to discuss race relations was a priority. It also read that it hoped to bring education about the contemporary issues of race to the county school system at large. "Although this message is one student’s opinion, we take the matter of racial relations and school safety seriously, and we look forward to working with our students and these outside groups to have a meaningful and informative dialogue and expanded curriculum related to this important national topic," according to the statement. Officials have reached out to the NAACP, said Trevor Harvey, president of the organization’s Sarasota chapter. He said the district has begun taking the first steps in creating a dialogue that could lead to educational conversations about contemporary race relations. But there is a long way to go. "It’s only been 24 hours since we learned of this incident," Harvey said. "There are a lot of moving parts to really facilitate a meaningful discussion." While no specific dates have been set, Harvey said the NAACP plans to participate in student-led discussion about race and social inequalities. "So far, the school district has been dispatching counselors to speak with students and making the community aware of what they are doing. They are reaching out to community leaders and professionals to facilitate this conversation," Harvey said. "But I don’t want the main point to be lost: The district (must) make the student body aware that they will not accept this kind of behavior. We can have all the conversations we want, but if there is no action, then we are not really doing anything productive." Critics have taken to social media, saying the school district’s response has been weak. Students such as Erin Williams, who posted to Facebook, have said racism has been a consistent problem at the school and there needs to be some tough discussions to rectify the situation. http://www.tampabay.com/news/educat...der-fire-over-his-racist-promposal-_167623809
SARASOTA, Fla. - Following days of social media outrage, the family of a teen whose "promposal" was deemed racist issued an apology through a public relations firm on Monday. "While our son has apologized himself, on behalf of our family, we wish to also express our most sincere apologies for the terrible words used in his 'promposal,'" the family said in a statement. "We love our son dearly and know that he is a far better person than reflected in this reckless behavior. That said, as loving parents, we also feel compelled to share our own deep regret and serious concern about his actions." The Riverview High School student posted a picture of himself on social media holding a poster that read "If I was black I'd be picking cotton, but I'm white so I'm picking u 4 prom?" Social media users erupted in outrage during the weekend, calling the picture being distributed on Snapchat racist and "not OK." On one particular Twitter thread included people who said they didn't see what was wrong and thought it was funny. Senior Erin Williams, who didn't think it was funny, posted a picture of the student's promposal on Facebook. “This is not okay," she said Monday. "This is hate speech and should not be expressed in school. We already have enough with guns in school and now you want to bring racism into it?” The student issued this apology on Sunday: "I want to sincerely apologize if I have offended anyone with the picture going around," he said in a statement. "That was not my intention. Anyone who knows me or ***** [name redacted] knows that that's not how we truly feel. It was a completely joke and it went too far. After reading the texts and Snapchat's I truly see how I have offended people and I'm sorry." The student will not attend any school activities, including prom or graduation, his family said. "As a family, we truly recognize this incident is a very difficult but important life lesson and pledge to do all we can to ensure that nothing like this ever happens again," the statement said. "Certainly, we hope that all of the people and communities who were hurt and offended will forgive our son and family." https://www.wtsp.com/article/news/f...picking-promposal-issues-apology/67-545398805
This high school student must be brought to the local town square and be stoned to death. Off with his head
He is but I think it’s kinda crazy because he’s a dumb kid and hopefully he will look back on this later in life and think how stupid it was. I think people have to remember this dude is young. He’s 18. Everybody at 18 is an idiot.
Kids today need a quick lesson in social media. All the dumb shit I did follows me around everywhere I go? It would ruin my life. I can't even remember all the stuff I did, this kid won't forget.
He won’t. Especially after all the death threats from other people out there because his name is out there. He’s better off than all the actual adults spreading their names across social media hoping something bad happens to him. Look at this shit. I completely get thinking this kid is an idiot but you can’t fight fire what fire and this is what people do unfortunately. He’s 18 and I think most of these people talking craziness need to remember what they were doing and who they were at 18. Being 26 now, thinking back to when I was 18, I was a different person man. Not in a bad way but just completely different. Give this kid 5 years. I guarantee he looks back on how dumb he was at 18 and if he doesn’t then he was dumb all along.
Being stupid on social media is s lot like herpes, you might think you can put it behind you but the shits going to flare up again and again.
The question is though, when he gets older and let’s say he looks back on this as a huge mistake, does he really deserve for it to be held against him forever?
The kids a dumbass. National news worthy? Probably not. Alot of young males will do just about anything to out-do one another in pushing the envelope. His intent was probably to make his friends laugh moreso than to make a racist statement, but it looks like he's probably a little dumber than the average high school aged douche, so he decided to roll the dice on social media and crapped out. Like alot of young people he has the foresight of a goldfish and now the whole world thinks he's an asshole. Hopefully he learns his lesson. Side note: This is why you don't censor and suppress people's speech. People who are stupid need to be able to express their ridiculous thoughts so the rest of us can call them dipshits and hope they learn a lesson!
I'm not entirely sure how the school thinks they can be involved in this? It's a racist moron saying something racist on a social media platform while off school grounds. Whether what he did was wrong or not, we simply cannot start policing people's thoughts. I feel sad for the kid because he thinks this is funny. But man... people need to be allowed to have their own beliefs or opinions. Even if they're wrong. As long as they're not actively out harming people.
So? It didn't happen on school grounds. Do we hold schools responsible if a couple kids bump uglies after the prom?
You play sports in high school? My HS would suspend or kick you off the team if you got caught drinking at a party. That doesn't make them responsible for anything dumb you do while drinking. But they do have a say over your actions outside of school. Dipshit shouldn't be allowed to go to prom. He can bump all the uglies he wants after prom. He can ride in a limo to the prom. But the school is well within their rights to not allow him to go to the actual prom.
