Pittsburgh Steelers Alum Ryan Clark Calls out Daughter’s School After Classmate Uses N-Word on Snapchat

Americans watched the inauguration on Wednesday and made comments about Joe Biden becoming President of the United States and Kamala Harris making history as the first female vice president. Former Pittsburgh Steelers safety Ryan Clark was among this group, but he took the conversation in a different — and troubling — direction. He posted a screenshot that showed two girls from his daughter’s school in Louisiana using a racial slur.

“Today my daughter watched the inauguration of President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris,” Clark tweeted on Wednesday. “It was encouraging to know her hopes of becoming anything she worked for could be a reality. It was needed more than ever because her [Parkview Baptist School] classmate made this posts on MLK day!” He included a screenshot from a Snapchat post that showed two girls and a banner that said: “Celebrating Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.” They added a caption that said, “n—er day.”

Several people responded to the tweet with outrage and called for the school to immediately expel the girls in the photo. For example, Monday Night Football analyst Louis Riddick asked the school for a response and said, “we still have a long way to go.” Superintendent Dr. Don Mayes ultimately released a statement saying that the school had taken disciplinary action.

“Parkview Baptist School Administration was made aware of a highly offensive social media post,” the statement read. “We take the behavior of our students very seriously and disciplinary action took place immediately. We appreciate all community members who brought this to our attention knowing this does not reflect the values and mission of our school. We share your same concern. Our school community explicitly rejects racism and racist behavior in all forms.”

When the school released the statement on social media, Twitter users responded with a variety of comments. Many took issue with the fact that the school did not detail the discipline. Several alleged that the school “didn’t actually punish” the two cheerleaders and accused the Parkview administration of supporting racism. Others allegedly learned the two cheerleaders’ names and tried to “dox” them, meaning online users posted the names and alleged addresses on social media.

Regardless of how the social media users expressed their opinion about the school and the two cheerleaders, they ultimately agreed about the punishment. These Twitter users called for the school to expel the students who made the post and then take extra steps with the remaining attendees. Several called for the school to spend time focusing on education about racism.