Buena High Students React With Outrage After Racist Posts Appear On Social Media

VENTURA (CBSLA.com) — Students of Buena High School -- a school in Ventura -- expressed their outrage Sunday after racist posts showed up last week.

The pics are surfaced days before the Martin Luther King Jr. holiday. CBS2 has chosen to blur the words and the images.

School administrators saw the pics before they were blurred.

Principal Bobbi Powers saw the photos that were taken on the campus' water polo deck.

The two students are shown with their arms outstretched. And, then, according to Powers, the students photoshopped an image of a black man being lynched hanging from the boys' hands. The caption says."He got him some (N-words) off the pier."

One of the students also reportedly photoshopped a Confederate flag on his shirt.

Members of a student organization "We Stop Hate," the school's anti-bulling club met with KCAL9's Cristy Fajardo to express their concern over the racist posts.

"That was very, very wrong what they did," said Thomas Harvey.

"I was disturbed. I just couldn't believe that someone would say those things," said Anna Rajala.

The school says the boys posted the shots on Snapchat. Another student reportedly tweeted both photos.

"I was shocked like most of the people," said Zachary, a member of  We Stop Hate.

He added, "I feel like they were sharing it just because they were shocked, andpeople should know about it."

On Buena Park's Facebook page, the principal wrote a letter meant for the families of the student body.

In part, she wrote, "The images and what they symbolize in no way reflect the opinions, spirit or philosophy of our school or school district. Rest assured that anything to do with racism or discrimination of any type will not be tolerated."

The statement added, "Appropriate disciplinary action was quickly taken against the students involved."

Powers did not say specifically what the disciplinary action constituted but another administrator told CBS2/KCAL9 students were likely suspended.

The campus has 1,800 students and Powers said many were outraged.

Corina Martinez, president of  We Stop Hate.spoke positively about the campus overall and thought the posts came out of left field.

"I haven't seen any racial discrimination from any students," said Corina Martinez, president of We Stop Hate.

Rajala echoed that sentiment.

"We do have a lot of diversity representing all sorts of ethnic groups on our campus," she said.

That is precisely why Powers said she will speak to all the students at an assembly following the Martin Luther King holiday.