St. Hubert’s students ‘no longer’ attend the school following viral blackface video

Students at St. Hubert Catholic High School for Girls who were involved in a racist video that went viral are “no longer members of the school community,” according to a statement from the school.

The video shows a white teen girl painting another white girl’s face black while others laughed and shouted phrases like “Know your roots!” and “You’re nothing but a slave.”

The clip has drawn over 11 million views on Twitter and is accompanied by two photos of one of the white teenage girls from the video posing in blackface with a Black History Month Snapchat filter. The backlash sparked protests at the Holmesburg Catholic school, where several Black parents last week accused the administration and the Archdiocese of Philadelphia with ignoring repeated warnings of rampant racism.

“The severity of the situation at hand demanded and the repugnant nature of the behavior on the part of some of our students demanded that we swiftly conduct a thorough investigation,” St. Hubert’s officials said in a statement. “As a result, the young women who [were] responsible for this situation have been identified and they are no longer members of this school community.”

St. Hubert’s officials and the Archdiocese did not confirm whether the students had the option to withdraw or were expelled. Those identified as participating in the video did face out-of-school suspensions before St. Hubert’s investigation concluded, said Archdiocese of Philadelphia spokesperson Ken Gavin.

Students at the high school returned to in-person instruction on Monday after St. Hubert switched to remote instruction last week, citing unspecified “reactionary general threats” in response to the video and urging from the Philadelphia Police Department.

The archdiocese first announced the two St. Hubert’s students in the video were “being disciplined appropriately” on Wednesday.

Parents of current and former students said the incident could be classified as normal behavior at St. Hubert. According to demographics kept by the school, St. Hubert’s student body is 80% white and just over 6% Black.

“I was paying for my child to get harassed and bullied and it’s not OK,” Nikole Hines, a Black parent, told The Inquirer at Wednesday’s protest. When her daughter attended St. Hubert, Hines said her daughter had been called a racial slur on at least one occasion and felt singled out because she was Black.

When Hines contacted the archdiocese, she said nothing changed. She withdrew her daughter from St. Hubert before her senior year in 2020.

Lamar Martin, another Black parent and former track coach at St. Hubert, also described a sense of futility: His daughter “felt as though there were other racist issues in the school and every time she tried to voice her opinion … they did absolutely nothing about it.”

Martin withdrew his daughter — at her request — in November.

St. Hubert’s officials have planned schoolwide antibias workshops with the Anti-Defamation League next week as part of the path to earning the ADL’s “No Place for Hate” anti-bullying designation. The ADL’s core focus as a Jewish organization is opposing antisemitism, but also works to combat hate, discrimination, and extremism of all kinds. St. Hubert officials maintain the school’s relationship with the ADL predates the incident.

“Archdiocesan high schools have worked with ADL over the course of many years as a matter of best practice to promote understanding, inclusivity, and harmonious environments,” Gavin said in a statement last week.

St. Hubert’s administrators and faculty are also working with the Office for Black Catholics and the Archbishop’s Commission on Racial Healing to create new school programs focused on “dialogue and prayer to address racism and provide restorative resources.”

“Our school community and the community-at-large have been wounded by the actions of a handful of formerly enrolled students,” said the statement. “We are working diligently, with faith and integrity, to begin the process of healing.”