Students Pose With Pumpkins Carved With Swastika, 'KKK'

Viral photo blasted by Pa. school district as 'reprehensible'
By Newser Editors and Wire Services
Posted Oct 19, 2017 5:57 PM CDT
School District Blasts 'Reprehensible' Pumpkin Carvings
Photo that made its rounds on social media, with faces blurred.   (Via NBC Philadelphia)

An eastern Pennsylvania school district is dealing with a second race-related incident in just over a week, investigating a Facebook photo showing current and former students posing with pumpkins carved with racist symbols. The pumpkins included one with a swastika, and another with the letters KKK. The photo shows four young people posing behind the pumpkins. Per the AP, the Coatesville Area School District, located in Chester County, says it appears the photo was taken off school grounds and after school hours. "We are extremely disappointed that any of our students would display this kind of hatred and vile behavior," a school district rep says, per NBC Philadelphia, adding that the students' actions were "reprehensible and intolerable."

A high school spokesperson says three of the students shown in the photo currently attend that school, while one is a former student.Superintendent Cathy Taschner says the district will "exercise its full authority" to send a message that the picture and carvings are not acceptable. Earlier this month, a black baby doll was found hanging in a Coatesville High School locker with a tie around its neck. Taschner says it was a "foolish prank," not a hate crime. Caln Township police are also investigating. Meanwhile, the school district rep says it's going to set up conversations with students about racism in conjunction with the Pennsylvania Human Relations Commission, Mid-Atlantic Equity Center, and NAACP.

(More racism stories.)

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