Superintendent: Prop at Black History Month event was wrong

Sean McDaniel, Oklahoma Public City School Superintendent, NewsOK.tv studio, Tuesday, November 13, 2018. Photo by Doug Hoke, The Oklahoman

OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) — Oklahoma City’s school superintendent has apologized after a cardboard photo frame emblazoned with watermelons was used at a high school’s Black History Month event celebrating soul food.

The Oklahoman reports that Superintendent Sean McDaniel said on Thursday that the use of the oversized frame that attendees could hold while posing for photos was “inappropriate and hurtful” and that the district would strive to do better. A district spokeswoman says the prop was removed from the February 20th event at Frederick A. Douglass High School after an administrator noticed it.

African Americans have long been subjected to a racist stereotype that they have a particular fondness for watermelon.