Wow! A group of white teens in Utah are now under investigation after dressing up as prisoners in blackface for Halloween. Several people on social media are slamming them and calling it a hate crime.
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Utah Teens Under Investigation For Blackface Halloween Costumes: ‘This Is A Hate Crime’
Viral video has hit the internet showing a group of white teenagers dressed up as prisoners and wearing blackface. Meanwhile, others in the group were dressed as police officers. The group of kids gathered at a Walmart store in Cedar City, UT on Halloween.
In addition to several people in the store who looked appalled at the teens, who were visibly smirking and laughing on camera, the person recording was upset as well.
The person recording said, “You guys are not going to get into a college. You guys are not going to get any scholarships, because this is a hate crime.” One of the teens fired back and said, “We all dropped out of high school, it’s OK.”
Since the video has gone viral, Cedar City police department officials are working diligently to identify at least three of the teens who were involved in the verbal confrontation, while wearing blackface and black-and-white striped prisoner costumes.
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Of the many people offended by the hateful images depicted in the viral video, was Utah Governor Spencer Cox.
Cox has since released a statement and said, “We strongly condemn racism in all its forms and we call on every Utahn to reject such offensive stereotypes, slurs and attitudes. We must do better.”
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Additionally, Cedar City Police Sgt. Justin Ludlow also released a statement and said that his department was not called about the Walmart confrontation, so they never responded to the scene.
However, after the fact, a witness at the store later called the station about the confrontation, so now the authorities are opening an investigation into the matter.
Sgt. Ludlow added that his department has partnered with the area school resource officers in order to determine if any of the teens involved in the attack are students belonging to local schools.
At the moment, Sgt. Ludlow says that even if the teenagers are eventually identified, officials are not yet going to reveal if they will be arrested or charged with any crimes.
He adds, “There are some differences between what people think and what the law [is], because people have the freedom of speech, and we don’t know exactly what happened. All we got is that one video, and so it’s going to have to be investigated.”
Via a press release by the Cedar City police department, it in part reads, “While topics such as these can cause an emotional reaction, we encourage everyone to be mindful when sharing videos of juveniles on social media, including any cyber or other harassment that can accompany this type of incident.”
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