School’s first black female student body president forced to resign

The former black student body president at a pricey New Jersey prep school was forced to resign from her leadership position earlier this year after she posted a series of photos on the Internet, in which she is seen dressed as what she describes to be the typical male, white student at the school.

In the photos, former Lawrenceville School Student Body President Maya Peterson is seen wearing L.L. Bean duck boots, a Yale University sweatshirt and is holding a hockey stick, which she says is representative of the typical ‘Lawrenceville boi.’

In addition to the photos, she added hashtags like ‘#romney2016,’ ‘#confederate,’ and ‘#peakedinhighschool.’

In a lengthy article on the Buzzfeed website, Peterson explains that the photos were meant as a joke in response to complaints made by students about her senior photos, in which she and 10 friends – all of whom were black – are seen raising their fists in a ‘Black Power’ salute.

‘I understand why I hurt people’s feelings, but I didn’t become president to make sure rich white guys had more representation on campus,’ she told the website. ‘Let’s be honest. They’re not the ones that feel uncomfortable here.’

Some of Peterson’s classmates, however, didn’t see the humor in her ‘racist’ photos.

‘You’re the student body president, and you’re mocking and blatantly insulting a large group of the school’s male population,’ one student commented on the photo.

Peterson’s response to the comment only made things worse.

‘Yes, I am making a mockery of the right-wing, confederate-flag hanging, openly misogynistic Lawrentians,’ Peterson responded. ‘If that’s a large portion of the school’s male population, then I think the issue is not with my bringing attention to it in a lighthearted way, but rather why no one has brought attention to it before…’

Read more at The DailyMail Online.