Last week, the official NBA account tweeted out a photo of Santa Fe high school shooting survivors holding hands during a moment of silence before a basketball game. After Twitter users accused the white students of racism for not holding a black student’s hand — one tweet in particular going viral — the alleged victim’s mother stepped in to shut down the race baiters.
Here’s the original tweet from the NBA that sparked the racially-charged outrage:
“But why is Nobody holding the black girls hand….” wrote one Twitter user, gaining over 100,000 “likes.”
The student is a senior from Santa Fe High School named Nicole Janice. Her classmates weren’t snubbing her because of her race, explained the girl’s mother, but didn’t hold her hand because Nicole would get too emotional before belting out the national anthem.
“The ‘black girl’ is my daughter. It’s people like you that keep the race crap stirred up,” wrote the girl’s mother, Lynda. “You just look for ways to make things about race. These girls are her friends. You have no idea what you are talking about so you just need to shut up.”
“If you want to post something why don’t you post your condolences to our community and to these families that lost their wives and their children that would be constructive,” suggested Lynda. “Why don’t you tell those choir members how sorry you are they lost their classmates.”
Receiving push-back from Twitter users who doubted Nicole was really her daughter, Lynda posted a photo of her family, adding, “I have a birth certificate to prove it.”
She then explained that Nicole “didn’t want to cry before she had to sing and holding hands would have caused her to start crying.”
Lynda explained that she only made her Twitter account because Nicole saw the accusations of racism against her friends and become upset. The girl’s mother felt it necessary to set the record straight.
Additionally, Lynda later posted a video of her and Nicole:
The Santa Fe mother’s pinned tweet thanks those who’ve supported her daughter and their community. “This post had shown me one thing. There are some Awesome people out there. I don’t care what color you are. Welcome to my world. The support you’ve shown my daughter, our family and community is greatly appreciated,” she wrote.
Nicole told KHOU 11 News she was disappointed with a racial issue being stirred up and backed her mother’s claim that she asked her classmates not to hold her hand.
“It’s very disappointing that people are going to take a race issue out of a picture with nine grieving girls in it,” said the high school senior. “I grieve in my own different way. I don’t like to be touched. When we had that moment of silence, I didn’t want to grab anyone’s hands because I didn’t want to break down before we sang [the national anthem].”
Lynda added, “When Nicole came out of her room Saturday morning, she was upset that they had turned this into a race thing, because she knew what was real. To make something so simple into a race issue was just absolutely ludicrous.”
H/T Mike Headly