A racism scandal splashes over one of the biggest newspapers in the United States and a publisher must apologize

The USA Today He presented it as one of the most important and longest investigations conducted by the newspaper. 900 directories from different universities were put on the table United States. And most of them showed racist photographs, with young students dressed in macabre costumes of the Ku Klux Klan (KKK), their faces painted black to make fun of African Americans and other signs of racial intolerance.

One can see university students from 120 high schools taking pictures simulating murders against blacks or imitating satirically the achievements of athletes, artists and politicians representing this American minority.

The work was titanic. Wrapped more than 78 journalists that they had to study page by page more than 900 directories of 120 universities around 25 states. They focused on the 70s and 80s. They wanted to see if A politician or a personality today could be involved in these ugly racist representations.

"The old photos of the directory capture gay college moments that deserve to be remembered: smiling faces, rallies and cheap beer cans. But among these same pages are images of students dressed in black Ku Klux Klan dresses and faces, draperies and simulations of lynchings, examples of undisguised racism but memorized as jokes for later laughter.", begins his fantastic chronicle Brett Murphy.

In total, following a thorough investigation, the reporters of the team led by Murphy They collected 200 examples of offensive or racist material.

However, the distant surprise was to unveil the past of a prominent politician – who would follow in the footsteps of Northam– but on the contrary, the journalists of the USA Today, one of the most important and most popular newspapers of the United States, they discovered that one of his highest authorities was part of this despicable culture.

Nicole Carroll, editor-in-chief From the newspaper since March 2018, was responsible for designing one of these directories -1989- where you can see the pictures of two students at a party Halloween, Made up and disguised as if they were the actress Robin Givens and the boxer Mike Tyson, both African-Americans.

The race of Carroll It was very recognized. Under his leadership, he managed to obtain the media in which he had been appointed or Pulitzer Prize for his journalistic work. He received the prestigious award Publisher of the year by the National Press Foundation in 2017 and in 2018 was elected to the board of the American Society of News Publishers.

In her long release, the reporter said: "The news is full of images of black faces. There can be no debate as to whether such images are racist and offensive. They are. Recently, I was informed that I was involved in publishing a photo of this guy when I was in college. The 1988-1989 yearbook that I published at Arizona State University included a picture of two people at a Halloween party, disguised as Mike Tyson and Robin Givens. It's horrible, and of course the photo should not have been published"

"I am sorry for the pain I caused at the time and for the damage it will cause today. The image was discovered as part of a revision of the directories of the time carried out by the network (of journalists) of the United States today. I was surprised because I had no memory of this photo. Clearly, the 21-year-old who was overseeing the book and this page did not understand how shocking the photo was. I would have liked to have understood. Today, at the age of 51, I understand and correct this mistake. I want to excuse myself publicly. As journalists, we must badume our responsibilities as we do with others and it is important that we recognize this bad judgment."He continued Carroll his public forgiveness.

Carroll He also made a statement for the original article, in which they referred to their participation in the directory surveyed and explained that the editor had excused herself from working on the material to be included in the story itself. "I was surprised when a colleague told me about my role in publishing a racist and painful photo in my yearbook at the university. I really regret the damage that caused my ignorance at the time and the pain it will cause now, 30 years later."