A Catholic High School in Mountain View, CA expelled two students in 2020 for allegedly wearing blackface. The families of the two boys sued and this week they won a $1 million judgment against the school. Why did the jury side with the boys? Because the photo in question showed them wearing a dark green facemask used for acne.

A Santa Clara County jury has awarded $1 million and tuition reimbursement to two former students who sued an elite Catholic high school in Mountain View, saying administrators forced them out over an alleged blackface photo that actually showed teens masked in acne medication.

The jury sided with the plaintiffs on two claims against Saint Francis High School, for breach of oral contract and lack of due process, said Frank Hughes, the father of one of the students. However, Hughes said, he and the other plaintiffs lost on three other claims alleging breach of contract, defamation and a violation of free speech.

The fact that this happened in 2020 isn't a coincidence. Parents at the school were already outraged over an Instagram post mocking George Floyd.

An estimated 50 to 100 people carried posters and shouted “Black Lives Matter” as they marched on Monday afternoon from Saint Francis High School in Mountain View to the corner of El Camino Real and Castro Street. They were marching to express opposition to the racist actions of students at the private Catholic high school and call on the school’s administration to discipline them.

While many carried posters and signs and shouted chants that could have come from any of the many local protests that have been initiated in response to police violence, this protest was in response to an incident closer to home.

Current and former Saint Francis students have been tied to an Instagram account that posted a racist image making fun of George Floyd, who was killed by Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin on May 25.

It was in the midst of this outrage someone found the old image of the three students and posted it online which sparked a fury.

“In defendants’ hurried attempt to ensure their perception as social justice warriors in the face of an unfolding scandal, and without any efforts to ascertain the true state of affairs, defendants pointed to 3-year-old photograph of plaintiffs that was taken entirely out of context, to falsely accuse plaintiffs of having committed an overt act of racism … and to scapegoat them for the misconduct of other students,” the lawsuit states.

Here's the photo in question.

2017 these boys were expelled by St. Francis High School in California because of this photo for "wearing racist blackface" in a selfie.
It was acne treatment. They sued and won $1Million. pic.twitter.com/ZzVe9uUhNX

— Pastor CornPop (@KornPop2024) May 9, 2024

And here's the explanation of it given in the lawsuit.

In 2017, according to the lawsuit, a 14-year-old A.H. and a friend applied white-colored acne face masks and took a picture of themselves. The next day, joined by H.H., the friend posted another photo of the three teenagers wearing face masks which the lawsuit says were light green but turned dark green when they dried.

Three years later, protests erupted after current and former Saint Francis students were linked to an Instagram account that posted a racist image making fun of George Floyd, the man killed by a Minneapolis police officer in May 2020. A.H. and H.H. had no affiliation with this Instagram account, according to the lawsuit.

But another Saint Francis student obtained the second photo of the boys, in which they claim they were wearing dark green face masks, and posted it to a group chat, naming the three boys and alleging they were engaging in blackface. The photo spread throughout the Saint Francis community and was posted to a Facebook page promoting a community protest, according to the lawsuit, including a reference to “kids participating in black face and thinking that this is all a joke.”

The parent who posted the photo was also the person who organized the rally at which she called for the boys to be expelled. The parents of the boys attempted to explain that this was an old photo showing an acne treatment and having nothing to do with the then-current outrage at the school, but school administrators told them they could withdraw the boys or have them be expelled. One of the boys wound up moving out of state so that he could finish his senior year. 

Initially the parents' lawsuit was seeking $20 million and also targeted the parent who posted the photo online. But she was dismissed from the lawsuit.

The lawsuit had also alleged that the school defamed the boys by making it appear they were guilty of racist actions which got them expelled. They didn't win on that count but did win on the due process claim. Still, it's a significant win for the two boys and their families who have spent four years fighting this. Each of the boys will now receive $500,000. They will also get back all of the tuition money they spent at the school which was another $70,000 total.