Georgia School Yearbook Photograph Shows Students Making Racist Gesture, Institution Issues Apology

A Georgia school has issued an apology after a yearbook photo showed the students making a gesture that is racist against the Asian people.

Some parents got upset after the yearbooks were sent to homes earlier this week. The parents immediately reached out to Dyer Elementary, which is in the Gwinnett County School District, with their concerns.

In the photograph some of the children were seen pulling their eyes back, making them smaller. Tommas Xiong, a parent, said the photo was racist against Asians.

"As a parent, you don't want your kids to be exposed to these kinds of gestures or racial underlinings," Xiong told WGXA.

Bee Xiong, whose sons also study in the same school, told the channel, "I understand the kids may or may not know what that means, but we as adults know what that means. We grew up in that environment. We were made fun of."

Speaking to Atlanta News Now, Stephanie Cho, the executive director of Asian Americans Advancing Justice Atlanta, a non-profit organization in the Gwinnett County, called the gesture in the photograph "dehumanizing" for people of Asian descent.

"As Asian Americans, we are viewed as a perpetual foreigner, and our eyes are what people distinguish as identifying us as Asian or foreign. [The gesture] is incredibly offensive. It reduces a person to a gesture instead of a full human being," Cho told the outlet.

Following the backlash, Principal Michael DiFilippo issued an apology and said the students were asked to "make a silly face" for the photograph.

"We see this as a teachable moment for our students, helping them to understand that their actions can hurt others even if they did not intend to offend. We apologize for the actions of these students and that this photo appeared in the yearbook. As a diverse school community, our goal is to cultivate respect for all cultures and to provide a welcoming environment for all," DiFilippo said.