A viral TikTok post showing four students at a Santa Barbara-area high school in blackface sparked outrage and calls for increased punishment as a community reckoned with allegations of racism on campus.
The four female students were identified and disciplined, according to officials at San Marcos High School and the Santa Barbara Unified School District, who did not release the students’ names or detail the discipline.
Several weeks before the post went viral, it was reported to school officials through their Safe to Speak Up Program, according to a statement from Principal Dare Holdren. The image, which showed four female students with artificially darkened skin imitating the pose of four young Black boys as part of a popular TikTok trend, continued to circulate, drawing condemnation online…