![\"Students](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/FRS_racistphotoprotest01.jpg\" "\\"Students")
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Students gather in the center quad area at Bullard High School during the final period of classes on Friday, May 6, 2022. A social media backlash has been felt across the district when a photo of a Bullard student wearing a mock Ku Klux Klan outfit was shared online. Racist, sexist and anti-LGBTQ jokes in Central Valley classrooms demand action. Schools should enact cultural training, reflect on history and protect students.<\/p>\n
CRAIG KOHLRUSS<\/p>\n
ckohlruss@fresnobee.com<\/p>\n
Imagine homophobic slurs displayed on your classmates\u2019 clothing, an incident that occurred at Visalia\u2019s Redwood High School<\/a> in February 2026. And imagine heading back to school to find your classmates sharing \u201chumorous\u201d images of themselves in blackface, as happened at Fresno\u2019s Bullard High School<\/a> in 2019.<\/p>\n Would you feel safe and ready to learn?<\/p>\n Racist, sexist and anti-LGBTQ incidents like these have surfaced in Central Valley classrooms in recent years, and for decades before that. Often dismissed as \u201cjust jokes,\u201d this brand of hateful humor causes real harm. It makes students feel unsafe in one of the few places dedicated to their moral and intellectual growth.<\/p>\n I am an education professor at Fresno State, and I also research humor \u2014 both its positive and negative aspects. In my 2024 book, I examined the impact of racist humor on Bullard High School, where in May 2022 a \u201chumorous\u201d photograph of a student in Klan attire<\/a> led to district-wide student walkouts.<\/p>\n One senior said they weren\u2019t surprised; they had witnessed racism within the school before. Another student added that it was a part of the school\u2019s history, as their own grandmother had shared stories about prejudice from her time as a student there.<\/p>\n How do you change a school\u2019s culture? Stop blaming \u201cbad apples.\u201d Confront the culture that produces them.<\/p>\n Reframe incidents as institutional problems<\/p>\n When joking results in scandal, the impacted school and district should take action beyond isolating and punishing individuals.<\/p>\n Schools should ask, \u201cHow have we been complicit in enabling the values and ideas that surfaced on our campus?\u201d By understanding local history and engaging in critical reflection, schools can expand professional development and take real steps to reshape their culture.<\/p>\n Address prejudice in curriculum<\/p>\n