Black Prep School Class President Steps Down After Mocking White Classmates

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The most expensive prep school in the country, the Lawrenceville School, spent much of its spring semester mired in racist tensions, as its first black student-body president was forced to step down for “mocking” white male students on Instagram.

In the photo that Maya Peterson posted of herself to Instagram in March when she was a senior, she poses as a typical “Lawrenceville boi” — wearing a Yale sweatshirt and duck boots, holding a hockey stick. It's hashtagged #romney2016, #confederate, and #peakedinhighschool.

“I understand why I hurt people's feelings, but I didn't become president to make sure rich white guys had more representation on campus,” Peterson, who graduated from the private school near Princeton, New Jersey, in June, tells Buzzfeed, which reported the story on Monday. “Let’s be honest. They're not the ones that feel uncomfortable here.”

Still, according to student publication The Lawrence, after a group of students alerted dean of students Nancy Thomas to the post, Thomas met with Peterson and decided it would be best for her to step down as president. Thomas, the story notes, felt “it was not fitting of a student leader to make comments mocking members of the community.” And so Peterson resigned, saying through an email to the student body, “As your Student Body President, it is my job to do what is best for the community, but as a student it is my job to do what is best for myself. With that said, I have decided to step down as President of The Lawrenceville School.”

Though the Lawrenceville School — where annual tuition is around $53,000 and whose student body is 55 percent white, 21 percent Asian, and 16 percent black/Hispanic — would not comment directly on the Peterson situation because of “privacy” issues, it did release the following statement to Yahoo Shine:

“The Lawrenceville School works hard to foster an inclusive, open, and engaging atmosphere that gives all students opportunities to be heard, feel respected and succeed. We do not tolerate racial discrimination and have had few issues on campus for many years now. Like any institution in America, we appreciate the challenge of having discussions about issues of diversity, and we remain committed to developing young people's abilities to engage with these issues in productive ways.

“We respect the privacy of our students so we will not comment on the particulars of disciplinary situations. Every student knows we expect them to meet basic standards for honesty, integrity, and respect for others. ‎In turn, we recognize that adolescents make mistakes and give our students every chance to be successful. But, they also know there are consequences for their actions and ultimately they will be held accountable for their behavior. Their actions, and only their actions, guide that process.”

Peterson, who now lives in New York City, according to her Facebook page, could not be reached for comment by Yahoo Shine. But she tells Buzzfeed that the controversy over her leadership started long before the Instagram photo, with cries from some students suggesting that the election she'd won had been fixed. She also notes that some of her initiatives as president — to institute a “diversity representative” on the student council board, and to create gender-neutral bathrooms, for example — were not well-received. She caught flak later in the year, she explains, for raising her fist in a “black power” salute along with several other students for a yearbook photo. But Peterson, a lesbian, says it was always her aim to reach out to minorities who often felt overlooked on campus. “The younger kids told me they felt comfortable opening up to me in a way they didn’t with other people,” she tells Buzzeed.
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Fellow Lawrenceville students seem torn over the situation. One told Buzzfeed Peterson’s actions seemed “hateful,” while another called her “a great face of the New Lawrenceville.” On Twitter, commenters have been split between camps:

Reading the Maya Peterson story…it is an act terrorism to send your child to a school like that. I don’t care how elite its supposed to be.
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Not impressed by Maya Peterson. I'm white (not rich/no confederate flags). Her HS tuition is $53,000 and she's shaming "rich, white" people?
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Thank you, Maya Peterson, for being you and for doing what I was afraid to do 6 years ago you have forced Lawrenceville to have this convo
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“I’m not saying what I did was right,” Peterson tells Buzzfeed. “But it wasn’t racist. I was just calling those guys exactly what they are. And Lawrenceville is the type of place where those kids are idolized.”
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https://shine.yahoo.com/healthy-liv...after-mocking-white-classmates-171901010.html

Step down after mocking white GAFers if old.
 
Having been to schools like this and seeing/hearing first-hand how POC get dealt with no matter what (especially if you're a POC with an academic/athletic scholarship)...I gotta get my Katniss Everdeen on and put my fingers up in silent support.

I know it probably wasn't technically appropriate for the sake of argument...but you already know what time it is.
 
Reading the Maya Peterson story…it is an act terrorism to send your child to a school like that. I don’t care how elite its supposed to be.
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This seems like an overreaction.
 
First off, I have to laugh at the idea that someone who ran for school president is ironically using #peakedinhighschool. Secondly, why the fuck are you mocking anyone if you're the class president?
 
I always wonder when people post stuff on social media that they know they will get shit for....what were they thinking right before upload?
 
She shouldn't have had to step down for that. What a fucking embarrassment.

Gender-neutral restrooms seems like a pretty terrible idea, though.
 
It was stupid for a Class President to do this.

Why did they group Black and Hispanic in the same demographic percentage?
 
How would that picture be offensive to anyone, ever? She's just making fun of obnoxious preppy kids. Everyone likes making fun of obnoxious preppy kids.

Pressuring her to step down for something so innocuous is bizarre, and seems completely uncalled for. I want more details.
 
Lucario said:
How would that picture be offensive to anyone, ever? She's just making fun of obnoxious preppy kids. Everyone likes making fun of obnoxious preppy kids.

Pressuring her to step down for something so innocuous is bizarre, and seems completely uncalled for. I want more details.
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She shouldn't be making fun of anyone in the position she was in...that is why she stepped down. Sucks because she was first black person in that role at the school and to have it end that way...
 
Fucking really? That shit is tame.

JBourne said:
Gender-neutral restrooms seems like a pretty terrible idea, though.
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I had them in College and it wasn't so bad outside of toilet seat position drama. I could easily see why they wouldn't work in HS though.
 
Lucario said:
How would that picture be offensive to anyone, ever? She's just making fun of obnoxious preppy kids. Everyone likes making fun of obnoxious preppy kids.

Pressuring her to step down for something so innocuous is bizarre, and seems completely uncalled for. I want more details.
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She wasn't pressured to step down, she decided to do so rather than be punished by the school. They probably would have let her stay on, but she didn't want to get in trouble because this probably gets her more attention
 
I'm white and don't find this offensive at all. Forcing her to step down for being racist is ridiculous.
 
That's a girl?

Also, another example of how some people don't understand what they post on social media can come back and bite them in the ass.
 
captmcblack said:
Having been to schools like this and seeing/hearing first-hand how POC get dealt with no matter what (especially if you're a POC with an academic/athletic scholarship)...I gotta get my Katniss Everdeen on and put my fingers up in silent support.

I know it probably wasn't technically appropriate for the sake of argument...but you already know what time it is.
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.
 
A black female lesbian Student body President in a rich predominantly white school. Wow.

That's...well, okay. Not sure what she was thinking to be honest.
 
quickwhips said:
She shouldn't be making fun of anyone in the position she was in...that is why she stepped down. Sucks because she was first black person in that role at the school and to have it end that way...
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Maybe it wasn't the smart thing to do but it's president of high school dude not the united states of america. big deal, they over reacted and they latched on to this because they really didn't seem to like her according to her story.
 
Infinite said:
Maybe it wasn't the smart thing to do but it's president of high school dude not the united states of america. big deal, they over reacted and they latched on to this because they really didn't seem to like her according to her story.
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Tuition is basically what I make in a year so I'm sure the school holds people to a higher level...I know I would.
 
Discoid said:
I'm white and don't find this offensive at all. Forcing her to step down for being racist is ridiculous.
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I don't think it's unreasonable to make the student body president step down for being racist. The problem here though is that it doesn't seem like she's making fun of white people, but rather the rich, preppy, conservative lax bro stereotype.
 
JBourne said:
She shouldn't have had to step down for that. What a fucking embarrassment.

Gender-neutral restrooms seems like a pretty terrible idea, though.
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Why?

Every High School equivalent i've went to has had gender-neutral restroom without any issues whatsoever.
 
None of her hashtags have anything to do with race. So if she made fun of nerds by dressing up in an Urkel outfit, would she be racist to whatever nerd group that takes offence?
 
Is the post even racist at all? I don't think it's particularly clever either but high school is so unimportant in the grand scheme of things.
 
Were the intended targets of her mocking offended? If yes, fuck her.
Was it largely seen as harmless by the intended targets? If yes, then whatsup here school?
 
A hashtag saying #confederate is implying something.

Should have used a lacrosse stick though to get her point across.
 
What a joke. She made a terribly innocuous comment, and honestly, I've seen far too many white kids get away with much worse than this. Further, it seems a bit weird for a majority-white student body to feel discriminated against because a black woman made fun of them.
 
Had a white student done the same thing with a basketball, jordans, whatever, it would be all over the national news and the person would have been relieved of their duties.

So, I have to agree with the decision to step down here. Your race doesn't exempt you from being able to be offended or angry at stuff like this.

What about those white college kids who dressed up in sombreros and the like a few months back and made national headlines for "racism"? How can anyone honestly say this is any different, especially when the intent is clearly the same?
 
backslashbunny said:
That's what I got, too. It seems she's making fun of the preppy yuppie stereotype. I guess it could be sexist...? But girls play hockey too, so...

She's making fun of rich people.

I wonder if a white girl had done this, or a white guy, if s/he would have to step down, too?
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I think she's rich herself going to that school, so that makes no sense. Like what was mentioned before, confederate is a dead give away who the (perceived or real) audience is.
 
her said:
"I understand why I hurt people's feelings, but I didn't become president to make sure rich white guys had more representation on campus,” Peterson, who graduated from the private school near Princeton, New Jersey, in June, tells Buzzfeed, which reported the story on Monday. “Let’s be honest. They're not the ones that feel uncomfortable here."
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Add #confederate in and I'd say it's pretty obvious there was race in the background here. I don't really think it's terribly offensive, but it's there.
 
freeofgreed said:
I don't think it's unreasonable to make the student body president step down for being racist. The problem here though is that it doesn't seem like she's making fun of white people, but rather the rich, preppy, conservative lax bro stereotype.
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backslashbunny said:
That's what I got, too. It seems she's making fun of the preppy yuppie stereotype. I guess it could be sexist...? But girls play hockey too, so...

She's making fun of rich people.

I wonder if a white girl had done this, or a white guy, if s/he would have to step down, too?
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Rich, preppy, conservative, lax bros are white. #Romney2016 #Confederacy aren't there to mock rich, preppy, conservative lax bros of all colors and creeds.

No matter how detestable that demographic she's mocking may be (and FFS, they are horrible), there's an undeniable racial element.
 
The thread title confused the heck out of me. I interpreted it as "the class president of a black prep school"
 
They're grouping Black people and Hispanics now? That's college money right there. Really good college money. I wonder what the total population is. Surprised that many people white, black or Asian are willing to pony up $50k a year for a prep school.
 
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