School responds after Los Gatos High students' prom invites depict blackface, lynching

Los Gatos High School officials are investigating incidents of racism involving students asking each other to prom. Los Gatos High School officials are investigating incidents of racism involving students asking each other to prom. Photo: Robert Magina/Flickr Photo: Robert Magina/Flickr Image 1 of / 40 Caption Close School responds after Los Gatos High students' prom invites depict blackface, lynching 1 / 40 Back to Gallery

Los Gatos High School administrators are responding to two racist prom invitations to the school's May 13 dance that have recently come to light.

The high school newspaper El Gato reports the first incident occurred in April when a male junior student asked a female sophomore to prom with a poster that read, "Do u wanna be like a n— and hang at PROM?" On the poster was a hand-drawn illustration of a lynching.

Photos of the "promposal" circulated on social media, according to Los Gatos High senior Danika Lyle.

On May 16, Lyle published an opinion piece in El Gato after she found out about a second racist incident where a male student wore blackface as part of his prom invite.

It started when the high schooler asked a girl out online using a dark-skinned bitmoji (an app that allows people to create online avatars), the Mercury News reports. The bitmoji avatar also had blue hair, glasses and a bow.

"She wasn't sure it was a real invitation, so he dressed as the bitmoji and went to her house," Los Gatos principal Kristi Grasty told the Mercury News.

However, as Lyle wrote, "He asked the girl at her house without a bow, tank top, or blue hair dye, but did choose to blacken his face."

The student in this case also posted a picture to social media.

When Lyle found out about the incident, she asked around and found out many of her peers had already heard about it, but not much action had been taken.

"As a person of color at Los Gatos High School, I was not surprised that this happened, but I was pretty frustrated at the lack of concern in the community," Lyle told SFGATE.

"It was frustrating feeling like you might have grown up in a liberal area that is open to other cultures and [I realized] that a lot of people might not care when offensiveness is put right in front of them," the 18-year-old continued.

In her editorial in the high school newspaper, Lyle noted that a photo of the second incident on social media had received 57 likes.

"57 people viewed the post and overlooked its racism. Moreover, 11 people were brave enough to leave comments like 'this is iconic,'" Lyle wrote.

High school administrators released a statement to El Gato reading in part, "No communication about any school event should denigrate another person or group for any reason. We are aware of two prom asks this spring that have been of a racist nature and want this choice of behavior never to recur."

As the end of the school year rapidly approaches, Lyle, who is heading off to Stanford University in the fall, is worried administrators may not have time to turn the racist incidents into a teachable moment for students.

"There's going to be so much good that's going to come out of it, but sadly I don't think it's going to be implemented until next year," she said.

Administrators said they are taking action and working to respond "sensitively." They also added that school officials are "working to develop additional programming to support increased cultural sensitivity throughout the student body."