*The conventional storyline is that a Latina student was insulted by a racist act and photograph. And while that’s accurate reporting, it’s also the surface of the story. There’s a deeper narrative that speaks to divisions within the Latino community. Most of the people in the picture are Latino, as well. But in Naples, Florida, the odds are that those students are of Cuban descent. One of the young women in the picture, who identified as Cuban, said “It looks like we were ‘Crossing the border, being Mexican,’ and that’s not how we wanted it interpreted. Our intention was never to offend anyone.” VL
By Nicole Pelletiere, ABC News
Jessica Morales, 18, said she was shocked to open her high school yearbook last week to see what she felt is a racially offensive photo depicting the “border patrol” interacting with students in stereotypical costumes.
“It was just really offensive because it kind of belittles the whole issue,” Morales told ABC affiliate WFTS in Tampa Bay, Florida, referring to the immigration process that both of her parents are still enduring.
The photo, which was printed on page 96 of the $90 Naples High School yearbook in Naples, Florida, pictured six students dressed in ponchos and sombreros and wearing mustaches, and one student in a shirt labeled “border patrol.”
Morales’ father, Miguel Morales, told WFTS the image struck him as “really racist,” adding, “I’ve never seen anything like that, I thought it was 2015 and people don’t act like that.”
However, a senior who said she participated in the initial staged snapshots, but was not involved with the “border patrol” part of the photo presented there, told ABC News that she and her friends were just fooling around and no offense was intended.
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[Photo courtesy of Jessica Morales]
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