(Parents and Grandparents: You should have your student read this or read it to them yourselves)

That’s what Mimi Groves of Leesburg and others found out when racist comments they had made on social media years resurfaced. The universities to which they were accepted withdrew their offers when they received many calls and correspondence questioning the appropriateness of having them as students.

Ms Groves wrote, “It honestly disgusts me that those words would come out of my mouth. How can you convince somebody that has never met you and the only thing they’ve ever seen of you is that three-second clip?”

Those of the generations who don’t remember a world without social media should know that its wonders contain their seeds of major problems…and our kids should be made aware of what the lessons of the story in the New York Times of December 27, 2020 are. The headline reads, “Racial Slur Resurfaces on Old Video, Altering Lives and Community,” and goes on to discuss all the ramifications of posting controversial material.

Apparently, the matter of racism wasn’t new in the high school Ms Groves attended with the African-American student who posted it. “In one sense, the public shaming…underscores the power of social media to hold people of all ages accountable, with consequences at times including harassment and both online and real-world ‘cancellation.’” The article revealed “a more complex portrait of behavior that for generations had gone unchecked in schools in one of the nation’s wealthiest counties, where Black students said they had long been subjected to ridicule. ‘Go pick cotton,’ some said they were told in class by white students.”

The bottom line is: regardless of your attitude – often worthy of review and change itself – consider what might happen down the road if you use the power of social media to convey that attitude…the power of social media might make you regret your stupidity.