In a perversion of Colin Kaepernick's kneeling for the National Anthem to protest the killings of Black Americans by the police, a group of White students were caught kneeling at a homecoming dance to "protest" a Spanish-language song.
The Chicago students were captured by fellow student Elizabeth Pacheco on Instagram both making disparaging, racist remarks to Hispanic students and kneeling while the song was playing.
The gesture was widely condemned across the internet.
The song the students were protesting was a Spanish cover of Billy Ray Cyrus's "Achy Breaky Heart."
"People immediately started booing and kneeling," said Pacheco to Patch.com.
"And everyone knows from the national anthem that kneeling means protesting — they were against the song."
"They started saying really disrespectful things about Mexicans and that's when I started to record."
Marist High School—the Chicago-area high school where the incident occurred—said they are "disheartened" by the incident.
"Marist's mission is to make Jesus known and loved. We respect and foster diversity, equity, and inclusion for all and want every student to succeed by feeling valued, seen, and connected."
But according to Marist students, this isn't the first time this has happened with the same group of people in their school. When Marist's kitchen staff began playing Spanish music in school, some White students booed.
Another used a fake, offensive Mexican accent, according to Maia Trevino, another student at the school.
The school also expelled two White girls in 2016 over racist text messages shared on social media.
Still, Pacheco says her aim is to "educate students on racism and discrimination" properly, in order to foster an acceptance of all cultures within the school.
