Education
Education

Was racism behind black cheerleader being cropped from Dunwoody High photo?

The tweet, since deleted, shows two versions of the same photo of Dunwoody High School cheerleaders. In one, a black cheerleader is missing.
The tweet, since deleted, shows two versions of the same photo of Dunwoody High School cheerleaders. In one, a black cheerleader is missing.
By Marlon A. Walker
Dec 18, 2017

Students at Dunwoody High School are crying racism after a black cheerleader was cropped out of a team picture.

Social media posts popped up over the weekend showing the full photo and its edited version, which eliminated the only black member in the picture. Several dozen students protested outside the school Monday morning, saying they wanted fair treatment for people of color.

DeKalb Board of Education member Stan Jester posted on his blog this weekend that the photo had inadvertently been cropped by a photo system at Walgreens. He also posted a short clip from Monday's rally.

Jester said there’s a 20-year tradition at Dunwoody High for the varsity cheerleaders to give the coach a photo collage, and that a parent brought their camera to Senior Night to capture images. When that image was put into the photo system at Walgreens, it cropped all photos to a smaller frame. Jester did not attribute the information to anyone else.

Check back to MyAJC.com for updates.

About the Author

Marlon A. Walker is an education reporter covering DeKalb County.

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