This group chat took Philadelphia students by storm for its sexist and racist comments. This group chat blew up on a Masterman and Central Black support page and got the principals of said schools and the superintendent of the School District of Philadelphia involved. Some Masterman and Central male students said really sexist, racist, homophobic, and transphobic things on Instagram. As news got around, principals from both Masterman and Central released a statement showing their concern for the comments.
Central’s principal, Timothy McKenna, said, “Students will be held accountable for their posts and videos” and that “[E]nsuring a safe and supportive school for all students and staff has long been a goal at Central High School.”
Masterman’s principal, Jessica Brown stated, “We condemn the use of any harassing language” because “[W]e are committed to making our community a safe place for all students.”
I interviewed an anonymous Central student from the class of 281 and she responded to the situation saying, “I was disgusted but not surprised. Central has always had racist homophobic and sexist subculture entrained in every policy. Our dean of students is always targeting students of color especially black students and he’s also sexist and homophobic and because he’s the coach of the wrestling team, they all get away with everything. We’ve been trying to get him removed from the dean for ages and he finally just got removed. As for the group chat, I wasn’t surprised in any way. We’ve all known that they are racist and homophobic and sexist and they say that with their chest.”
Students at Central and Masterman have classes and lectures about marginalized communities, but these recent events that have come to light show that they need to be educated better on the subject.
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