The photo shows five people: They’re wearing black clothes and white curly afro wigs. Their bodies are painted largely black. Four of their faces are painted black too. They’re all smiling.

The group in the photo walked into a high school volleyball game in Fayetteville last week. The game was billed as a “blackout” for the home team, the Whitewater High Wildcats, and fans were encouraged to wear black clothing. Administrators quickly addressed the group at the game, but it was already too late.

The photo circulated online in the days afterward. To anyone who came across it, it seemed to depict young people in blackface — a practice that dates to the 1800s, when performers would paint their faces to create bigoted caricatures of Black people. (The Atlanta Journal-Constitution is not publ

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