A group of White teens attending a Six Flags' Fright Fest appeared to don blackface. They allegedly harassed parkgoers airdropped racist memes while waiting in line for one of the rides at the amusement park.
The teens with the sender of the racist meme and wearing black paint on their faces were caught on video by TikToker Asiah–a.k.a. @asiahsavon–who wrote in the comments:
"We got stuff airdropped with the name 'j*gaboo jones' when there was no other Black ppl around and they asked if we like his face when they came to us."
The TikToker added:
"And it’s just a coincidence that they only came up to us and asked if we liked it."
You can watch the video here.
WARNING: blackface
@asiahsavon Blackface at sixflags….
\u201cAlso, Isaac and his friends airdropped some racist memes while waiting in line for a ride. Here is a photo of Issac and his friends in blackface & one of the memes that was airdropped to black kids.\n\n#antiracism #BlackLivesMatter #Racism #sixflags #TikTok\u201d— Where's the Giant, Mansley? (@Where's the Giant, Mansley?) 1666040379
@asiahsavon @asiahsavon
In the initial clip, a teen wearing a white hoodie and glasses approached one of the Black people in the group with the TikToker and asked if they liked his face paint.
When the person asked him, “What are you supposed to be?” the White teen said he was trying to paint something else but "messed up."
Some viewers argued the TikToker blew things out of proportion.
However, a strong majority of TikTokers thought the teens in the clip did have racist intent.
They were appalled at their audacity.
@asiahsavon/TikTok
@asiahsavon/TikTok
@asiahsavon/TikTok
@asiahsavon/TikTok
A commenter claimed the teens were from Grant Community High School, located in Fox Lake, Illinois.
Although the Six Flags location was not identified, the proximity to the high school the teens allegedly attended would indicate the incident occurred at Six Flags Great America in Gurnee, Illinois.
Users pointed this out after recognizing the queue in the video was for the indoor steel coaster, Dark Knight.
@asiahsavon/TikTok
@asiahsavon/TikTok
Some users suggested the outcome of that interaction could have ended differently.
@asiahsavon/TikTok
@asiahsavon/TikTok
\u201c@SnowYeliah @GrantBulldogs @SixFlags So disgusting. And of course, no one takes responsibility for anything. Not the school, not the parents and especially not the peers.\u201d— Where's the Giant, Mansley? (@Where's the Giant, Mansley?) 1666040379
\u201c@SnowYeliah @GrantBulldogs @SixFlags Good luck with your college applications, Isaac and friends.\u201d— Where's the Giant, Mansley? (@Where's the Giant, Mansley?) 1666040379
\u201c@SnowYeliah @GrantBulldogs @SixFlags YES I HAVE BERN WAITING FOR THIS! I\u2019m a former student at grant and there was always a lot of racism and disgusting things being said at that school.\u201d— Where's the Giant, Mansley? (@Where's the Giant, Mansley?) 1666040379
Airdropping obscene or offensive images in public is one of the latest trends in which anonymous senders troll people in the hopes of witnessing the desired response from afar.
@asiahsavon/TikTok
While there doesn't seem to be a perfect solution to monitor this form of harassment, the effective thing to do is for recipients to "not allow" accepting any images from unknown senders.
If the White teens' intent in wearing blackface was deliberate, the behavior is an indication of a larger, growing problem in the country–where many school districts reject educating White students about history and systemic racism because they might feel bad.