Justice

The Internet Is Outraged over This Insanely Racist Yearbook 'Typo'

May 8th 2016

A California high school has launched an investigation after the school yearbook mistakenly published a photo of a Muslim student that identified her as "Isis Phillips." The problem? The student's actual name is Bayan Zehlif — and many believe that what Los Osos High School is calling a "misprint" is actually a racist attempt to link the student to the Middle East terrorist group ISIS because of her religion.

This is Bayan Zehlif's yearbook photo.

School principal Susan Petrocelli and the yearbook staff have already taken to Twitter to apologize. Both said that applying the name "Isis" to the 11th grader, who is pictured wearing a hijab, was a simple mistake:

Petrocelli also told Islamic Monthly that the school previously had a student named Isis Phillips who now attends classes elsewhere in the district.

But others aren't buying it.

Many on the internet are crying foul over what is perceived as a racist slur against Zehlif, speaking up for the student after her yearbook photo went viral on Twitter and Facebook over the weekend.

Zehlif reported the incident to school administrators after friends urged her to speak out, but the school's response left her feeling disheartened. She took to Facebook about the issue, writing, "The school ... had the audacity to say that this was a typo. I beg to differ, let's be real."

Her post has since been shared more almost 3,000 times on the platform.

Only 287 yearbooks have been distributed so far, according to the school, and undistributed copies are currently being held back as the school attempts to work with the publisher to correct the error.

Petrocelli stressed that the school was taking the matter seriously and would seek disciplinary action should it be discovered that the misprint was intentional.

"If there is a student that has responsibly and intentionally committed this, we will take the appropriate action that is necessary," Petrocelli told Islamic Monthly.

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