Baton Rouge area Catholic school responds to student's racist essay about Black History Month

BATON ROUGE – Parents and students of a Catholic high school received a letter, apologizing after a student's essay that chastised African Americans circulated on the internet.

The essay, assigned to a class at St. Michael the Archangel in Baton Rouge, was about Black History Month. Instead of writing about events in February in support of equality for all races, a white student wrote she was “unpleased” with having to write such a paper and continued not everyone is created equal.

WBRZ.com has made an editorial decision not to include many of the overtly racist quotes from the paper in this story, but you can find a picture provided to reporters by concerned individuals HERE. Only a few paragraphs were seen in images shared with WBRZ on at least two occasions this weekend.

The student referenced what she thought were passages from the bible, supporting a claim that the only race on the earth during biblical times were Caucasians.

Monday, the school said it was aware of the situation and that the essay had been posted on the internet. But, asked that people use the situation as a “teachable moment – an opportunity for education and growth for all involved, particularly through reflection on the wisdom of our Catholic faith.”

The note to parents and others said, “What is said or written by individual students may be contrary to the teachings of the Church and the mission of our school, as is the case in the recent message posted on the internet. We apologize to anyone who was offended by this writing. The ideas and writings of this student, and their subsequent posting on the web, were not within the school’s control.”

Click HERE to read the entire letter from the school.

It's not clear how the essay ended up on the internet.

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