Chicago Catholic school bends to woke mob: Staff apologize over viral video of 'racist' white kids refusing to dance to Spanish song at homecoming - but DJ says they did the same when he played Justin Bieber and were just 'trying to control the music'
A Chicago Catholic private school has become the latest to bend to the woke mob after apologizing over a video showing white students refusing to dance to a Mexican country song that was deemed proof of racism - when it was just one of many songs the kids didn't like at the homecoming dance.
The video was taken at the Marist High School homecoming dance on October 9, where students refused to dance to Payaso de Rodeo, a 1997 song by the Mexican country music group Caballo Dorado.
It was posted on social media by a student who said it was proof of racism.
'You send us emails asking for pictures of our families during Hispanic Heritage Month. You hang up our banners of papel picado throughout the school. If you love our food, ethnic fashion, and energy so much... why do you resent us. How would you like it if we kneeled to your country music?' she said.
Her post was subsequently widely-shared and spread to other social media platforms, including TikTok.
But the DJ from the dance, parents at the school and the school itself have since confirmed it was just one of many songs the kids didn't like - including some that were in English.
DJ Brian Stepanek says the kids were trying to control the music and that the incident had nothing to do with race.
The video was posted on Instagram and was presented as a racist gesture by the white kids by one of the students present, Elizabeth Pacheco. She says she also heard a racist slur before she started filming
Kids at Marist High School in Chicago were deemed racist on social media because they refused to dance Payaso de Rodeo, a 1997 song by the Mexican country music group Caballo Dorado. But the dance DJ, parents and the school say they also refused to dance to English songs too
'With 800 kids in attendance and only time allowed for 60 songs to be played, our DJs were constantly being heckled by the students to change up the tunes.
'Basically, the students just wanted to control our DJs to change the song at that and other times,' he said in a statement.
Now, disturbed parents tell DailyMail.com they are afraid to speak out about what really happened for fear of their kids being bullied.
'It’s very disappointing how these events turned out and the depiction of what happened was grossly exaggerated.
'Now there is more division than ever the school. It’s just sad,' one mother, whose child attended
She said other parents feel the same but are too frightened to speak out publicly because they don't want their child to be bullied.
'I wish there were [videos of the other songs] the kids refused to dance to. This would have been squashed real quick.
'Many of the students that attended the dance are afraid to speak out against these students false narrative in fear of retaliation.
DJ Brian Stepanek says the kids were overexcited and trying to control the music after not having a dance for more than a year due to COVID. He says they refused to dance to many of the songs - not just the Spanish one in the video
'My child was [at the dance] but would never openly speak about it. Kids are mean…very mean.'
After Pacheco shared the video, Hispanic students at the school have arranged protests.
Pacheco was interviewed by The Chicago Sun Times, telling the newspaper she and other Hispanic kids feel 'unsafe' on campus. She also told WGN that before the song, the kids in the video 'booed' and made racist comments.
The school promised an investigation and on Tuesday, released a statement saying that the kids didn't dance to many songs - not just the Spanish ones.
They still went on to apologize to the kids who were offended.
'At the outset, we acknowledge and apologize for the hurt this incident has caused our students, staff, alumni, and the many others who have expressed their feelings related to the video posted on social media...
This is half of the full playlist that the DJ used. It includes four Spanish songs including Gasolina and Suavemente, which the kids danced happily to
'Although these are the facts, we recognize there are still students at Marist who viewed this video or who were at the Homecoming dance that were hurt by these actions.
'Marist is a family, and when one of us hurts, we all hurt.
'The fact that there were students who left the homecoming dance hurt by what they witnessed shows us that there is work to do.'
Angry parents say the truth is being ignored and the kids in the video are being unfairly tarnished.
The DJ has also released half of the playlist and says it wasn't an act of racism and was just a case of kids wanting to control the music.
'These students have not had a school dance in over two years because of COVID.
The video went viral on TikTok and Instagram, where users said it was evidence of racism
Some Hispanic and Latino students then arranged protests at the school. Pictured, the school yesterday
'Because of this, their expectations of the music were very demanding to say the least.
'With 800 kids in attendance and only time allowed for 60 songs to be played, our DJs were constantly being heckled by the students to change up the tunes.
'It appears to us that this same behavior was observed several other times at this dance when the students ‘sat down’ to force our DJs to change the tunes.
'The opposite of dancing is sitting, right?
'Basically, the students just wanted to control our DJs to change the song at that and other times.'
They shared a link to the full Spotify playlist that also had Gasolina, La Mama de la Mama and Suavemente on it.
The school issued this apology and statement on Tuesday. It said it had started speaking with the local police department because of 'external threats' though it's unclear who had launched those threats
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