According to Muirland Middle School’s principal, however, this is a clear-cut case of blackface.

But you tell me, does this look like blackface to you? …

This is a photo of the student in question taken at the Friday night football game. He wasn’t the only student to have a painted face there, and there were no reports of him displaying bad behavior at the game. In fact, security guards and police officers were present the entire night without incident.

[If the picture is accurate, it’s an absurd and defamatory accusation. If anything, it looks more like a fake beard, which may be how it was intended, as well as sports “war paint.” NFL players sport similar decorations on their face to look like warriors, smearing eyeblack all the way down to the jawline. (Eyeblack is used under the eyes to keep the sun or lights from glaring back into your vision off your cheeks.) It’s clearly not “blackface,” and one would have to be an idiot to conclude it was. One imagines that the family’s attorney is already planning the nice vacation that a settlement with the school district will fund. — Ed]