A high school student from Jacksonville, Florida, who posted a racist Craigslist ad targeting two classmates has been suspended for 10 days.
The ad, which features a photo of two black students sitting at their desks at Fleming Island High School, was titled “TWO SLAVES FOR SALE – $470 (Fleming Island Plantation).” The post read: “Two healthy negro slavegals for sale. Good condition and hard work ethic! If you need another pair of hands around the the farm/house, you’re in luck!”
According to First Coast News, the ad was immediately taken off of Craigslist after being reported by Lexis Potter, who was perusing the farms and gardening section of the site. Potter originally uploaded a screen shot of the ad to Facebook, but has since taken it down.
https://twitter.com/yossiana22/status/857587180201443328
One of the girls in the ad’s photo, a senior named Skye Fefee, told First Coast News that a friend sent her the ad via Snapchat. She then saw the image on Potter’s Facebook page.
“I never thought somebody would do this to me. I had friends texting and calling me,” Fefee said. “Everyone started tagging me in the post, and then my mom saw it and was disturbed by it … I was really upset about it because Fleming Island is known for racial slurs. This school year someone wrote on the toilets, ‘whites only.’”
The student who posted the ad has been suspended for 10 days, and the principal has recommended the student to an alternative school after the suspension is lifted, ABC affiliate Local 10 News reported.
“We do not tolerate this type of behavior and we are disheartened that any of our students would be subject to discrimination,” Clay County School District superintendent Addison Davis said in a statement. “Fleming Island High School administration and district leadership are working together to create a school-wide plan of action to strengthen the climate and culture while celebrating the school’s diversity.”
Ultimately, the school board will make the decision whether to send the student to the alternative school or expel him. Fefee, however, thinks the school administration should do more to prevent racist aggressions like this ad.
“I think the student should be expelled,” she said. “The administration doesn’t pay attention to this. They need to better monitor the students.”
H/T HuffPost
