Eighth grader banned from all sports events after eye paint deemed ‘blackface’

A middle school student in California has been banned from all athletic events and suspended after the eye paint he wore to a high school football game was deemed “blackface.”

Identified as J.A., the eighth grade student became the center of criticism after he attended the Oct. 13 football game between La Jolla High School and Morse High School while wearing paint covering his cheeks and chin, according to a report citing the Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression.

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“We had a fun, great night without any trouble,” the student’s father said, alleging that a black security guard had even suggested his son apply more paint.

While the boy’s cheeks and part of his chin were covered, his forehead, eyes, nose, and mouth remained untouched.

However, that did not stop Muirland Middle School Principal Jeff Luna from calling in J.A. and his parents a week later to inform him that he would be facing a two-day suspension and ban from all future sports events.

J.A. “painted his face black at a football game” in an act that was an “offensive comment” and “intent to harm,” the disciplinary note read.

Luna declared the action was offensive due to Morse High School’s “largely black” student population.

FIRE has decried Luna’s action as ludicrous and a violation of the eighth grader’s First Amendment rights.

“As the First Amendment protects J.A.’s non-disruptive expression of team spirit via a style commonly used by athletes and fans — notwithstanding your inaccurate description of it as ‘blackface’ — FIRE calls on the school to remove the infraction from J.A.’s disciplinary record and lift the ban on his attendance at future athletic events,” Aaron Terr, FIRE’s director of public advocacy, said in a Nov. 8 letter.

The student’s “appearance emulated the style of eye black worn by many athletes” and “such use of eye black began as a way to reduce glare during games, but long ago evolved into ‘miniature billboards for personal messages and war-paint slatherings.'”

Blackface is a completely separate issue and entirely unrelated to J.A.’s eye paint, according to Terr.

“It has its origins in racist minstrel shows that featured white actors caricaturing Black people, and generally entails covering the entire face in dark makeup and exaggerating certain facial features,” Terr argued. “By contrast, J.A. followed a popular warpaint-inspired trend of athletes applying large amounts of eye black under their eyes, which has no racial connotations whatsoever.”

“The student wore his eye paint throughout the game without incident,” Terr said, adding the actions against him stand in firm violation of the protections granted to him under the First Amendment.

“In the seminal student speech case Tinker v. Des Moines, the Supreme Court held the First Amendment protected public school students’ right to wear black armbands to school to protest the Vietnam War,” he said. “The Court made clear school officials cannot restrict student speech based on speculative ‘undifferentiated fear’ that it will cause disruption or feelings or unpleasantness or discomfort among the student body. Rather Tinker requires evidence that the speech has or will ‘materially and substantially disrupt the work and discipline of the school.'”

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“There is no evidence J.A.’s face paint caused a disruption — let alone a material and substantial one — at the football game or at school afterward,” Terr said.

Terr is calling for a response from the Muirland Middle School by Nov. 22, and a second letter has been sent to the San Diego Unified School District following the district’s decision to deny a request to overturn J.A.’s suspension.