The Uijeongbu High School is well known for its students’ graduation photos as students parody individuals who make the media headlines each year. Two years ago, a group of students from Uijeongbu High School caused a controversy when they parodied Ghana’s dancing pallbearers.
The parody itself was not the issue; the problem in question was that the students had painted their faces to look darker. So many netizens brought about the problematic issue of the ‘blackface’ and criticized the students and the faculty of the school. The controversy heightened and was one of the most talked about topics in 2020.
This was because of the two parodies – one of Will Smith and another of the character Michol from the animation, ‘Dooly the Little Dinosaur.’
The Uijeongbu High School was once again at the center of attention as netizens gathered their attention to the students. In particular, the student dressed as Will Smith triggered much debate about ‘blackface’ in various online communities that the high school had to post a statement explaining that this student had not painted his face darker.
The high school explained, “Hello this is Uijeongbu High School Student Council. The two graduation photos below are not intentionally exaggerated and the students did not paint their faces to be darker. Please note that these are the original skin tones of the students and they did not paint their faces. Thank you for your interest in the graduation photos of Uijeongbu High school, and we will become a student council that will always proceed with activities responsibly. Thank you.”
Nevertheless, netizens criticized, saying, “It seems the students are not putting much thought into taking the photos because they’re competing with one another for the most buzz-worthy photo. But this is not funny it’s rather unpleasant,” “Why does the student dressed as Will Smith not know what is okay to do and not okay to do,” “Do they not understand the issue is not with their original skin tone?” and “Sam Okyere criticized the school for the ‘blackface’ makeup already, and still they dress up as black people.”
With further criticism, the students in the photos stepped up to defend themselves, saying, “I’m the person in the photo, and that’s my original skin tone color. I never wore sunscreen,” and “We said that isn’t makeup, that’s our original skin. We didn’t put makeup on nor are we mixed race so don’t forcefully slander us.”
