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Larz Cosby was in disbelief when he spotted a student wearing what resembled a Ku Klux Klan hood at a recent Alta High School assembly.
"I couldn't believe my eyes," said Cosby, an Alta High junior.
So he did what many modern students might do: called his dad, talked to administrators and blogged about the incident, which the multiracial student wrote left him feeling "numb."
Jennifer Toomer-Cook, Canyons School District spokeswoman, said school officials are barred by law from publicly discussing whether a specific student was disciplined. But she said the district's office of civil rights and director of high schools are investigating the incident, and called the allegations "very concerning."
Those allegations have stirred debate on Cosby's blog. As of Tuesday afternoon, Cosby's blog post had elicited more than 200 comments — some praising him for being vocal about what happened and others saying it was a tasteless, teenage joke that's been blown out of proportion. The incident happened at a spirit bowl assembly where sophomores, juniors and seniors wear different colors, with juniors wearing white.
But Cosby said the incident didn't feel minor to him.
He said he was walking into the assembly when he noticed a classmate wearing what looked like a white, KKK hood with two holes cut out for eyes. Cosby said the classmate's friends then started pointing at Cosby and laughing. At that point, Cosby said he told his classmate to take off the hood, and when he didn't Cosby yanked the hood off himself. He said the student, however, then put the hood back on for a short time after Cosby took his seat.
After the assembly, Cosby called his father and shared his concerns with school administrators, who said he was not the only student to report the incident. And a day later, Cosby decided to express his feelings in his personal blog, which he saw as a peaceful way to share his frustration.
"Instead of taking action, instead of giving someone violence, what I did was I blogged about it," Cosby said in an interview. He said he believes the offending student knew exactly what he was doing. He expressed his frustration in the blog, saying racism exists at Alta High in Sandy.
"Who in their right mind would plan to blatantly enforce their hate for others in a large gathering in a public school? How is it a joke? How is that funny?" Cosby asked in his blog.
Vance Allred, Alta High assistant principal, said, "We need to be a little more determined as a whole [school] to kind of emphasize to students that everybody should be treated with the same dignity and respect as they'd like to be treated themselves."
He said, "as professionals, as educators, we need to be more specific with all our students so all of them have a clear picture of the progress we have made in relation to people of all colors."
Isaiah Spencer, chairman of the state school board's Coalition of Minorities Advisory Council, said it's hard to say when such incidents occur at schools whether it's a matter of racism or lack of awareness, but, "There's history behind all this stuff, and we can't ignore the history, at the expense of someone else, wanting to have a good time." The blog in question: