Problematic Placeholder

From The Dallas Morning News, The Associated Press, and Knob-Fil-A:

Yearbook lists student as 'Black Girl'

02:01 PM CDT on Monday, May 23, 2005

Associated Press

WAXAHACHIE, Texas - A North Texas school district is having four pages of its high school yearbook reprinted to correct a photo caption that identified a student as "Black Girl."

All white students are identified by name in the photograph of Waxahachie High School's chapter of the National Honor Society. The teen identified as "Black Girl" is the only black student in the photo.

The district apologized for the mistake Saturday, a day after the yearbooks were distributed. The label apparently was meant to be a placeholder until the yearbook staff could track down the student's name, district spokeswoman Candace Ahlfinger said.

Ahlfinger said Monday that administrators have asked the publisher to reprint the affected page, its companion page in a two-page layout, and those two pages' back pages.

"We will never be able to minimize this damage, but this will change it so that it is not a constant reminder, so it won't be a forever," Ahlfinger told the Waxahachie Daily Light.

Students will be asked to bring in their yearbooks so the old pages can be torn out and the new ones glued in, Ahlfinger said. The district expects to have the reprinted pages by Wednesday. The last day of school is Thursday.

I wonder how many students will want their yearbooks replaced.

While a high school yearbook is a tedious thing to complete given the divided attention of the staff, this is quite a rude thing to leave in the final copy. I assume this is an innocent mistake on the part of a few non-black students with a sense of humor that should have been kept private. I hope the unnamed student has a sense of humor.

Imagine the uproar if the word "token" were used. On the other side of this, would "Fat Girl" or "Disabled Girl" have drawn as much attention?