By Victor Omondi
Two white students posted a photo on Instagram and captioned it “A Ghetto Christmas Carol.” The caption may not have been a big issue were it not that in the photo, the two white students are carrying a 5-year-old Black boy.
As soon as the photo was posted on social media, it quickly went viral, with many people castigating the act as racist. The mother of the boy got very furious after learning of the racially insensitive caption. The photo was reportedly taken at Byrd High School in Shreveport, Louisiana.
Speaking on local ABC affiliate KTBS, the boy’s mother asked, “‘Ghetto Christmas Carol.’ Really? Ghetto? Why? Because he’s Black?”
The post, which was widely shared on Instagram and other blogs has since been deleted after it generated so much heat that the students who posted it couldn’t handle.
Martin couldn’t believe what had happened. She told the school that whatever happened is a no go, something that shouldn’t happen in the first place.
“I don’t get it. I didn’t get it,” she said, clearly confused as to what to say. “Like, why would they just write that? They could’ve left the ghetto part out and I would’ve been probably OK with it.”
Danny Martin, Sharon Martin’s nephew, was also very frustrated by the whole thing. The incident prompted her to declare to come forth as a savior for his cousin and other young ones who’re likely to be subjected to such heartless acts of racism.
“He’s 5-years-old,” Danny told KTBS. “He doesn’t know what’s going on. He doesn’t know about all the comments, posts on social media. He doesn’t know that. So, it’s my job as his cousin to protect him from seeing that and to protect any other child that’s affected by this that’s been happening anywhere in Shreveport.”
When KTBS tried to get the reaction of the parents of the white students, and what they got from one of the parents was quite shocking. The parent said, “Our son was referring to the title of a song that is popular among teens. He had no intention of being malicious or hurtful to anyone, especially the child photographed, whom he has already written a letter to apologizing for the whole incident.”
She said that even though their son had no intention of hurting anyone with their action, “his father and I feel that some counseling regarding cultural sensitivity is warranted. We want to make sure that he has learned a valuable lesson from this experience.”
Reports also indicate that the school acted against the two white students. Although the Martin family is happy that something is happening, they’re not satisfied yet.
“This is not going to get pushed under the rug,” Danny Martin said. “He’s going to actually get somebody to speak up for him.”
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