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It’s completely beyond us, how in 2019, people still don’t know that blackface is racist, but alas…

Officials from a California Christian school are apologizing after pictures of one of their white teachers dressed in African garb and rocking blackface went viral.

According to Yahoo News, John Huffman, superintendent of the  Victory Christian School system in Sacramento, explained in an email that he practiced “poor judgement” when he allowed the female educator to wear dark make-up on her face and body for a lesson about Central Africa.

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Apparently, the teacher thought the blackface would make her presentation more “authentic.”

“Last Thursday our elementary chapel speaker dressed up as a Central African native woman in order to tell the life story of missionary David Livingston and his work in Africa in the late 1800s. In an effort to bring authenticity to her role, she wore a typical native dress and headdress,” Huffman wrote.

“I was wrong to allow the use of makeup no matter how innocent the intentions as it has offended some of my students and parents,” he wrote. “I should have anticipated that this could be offensive, and I apologized to my students and parents asking to be forgiven for hurting them.”

Huffman also told Yahoo News that he apologized to the students and their parents for what occurred.

“I wanted to assure them that I am planning future open discussions about this in our chapels and Bible classes in order to help students and staff understand each other’s sensitivities,” he wrote.

“There will be other opportunities scheduled for staff as well as teachers as we all learn from this together.”

 

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Christian School Apologizes After Teacher Wore Blackface During African History Lesson  was originally published on hellobeautiful.com