Revere High student’s yearbook quote on racial tensions making waves

A student at Revere High School tweeted a photo of her yearbook picture accompanied by a racially-tinged quote: “Anything is possible when you sound caucasian on the phone.’’

Betshina Bernier’s tweet — which appears to emulate a Florida teen’s yearbook quote that went viral last year — also took off on Twitter. By Thursday evening, Bernier’s quote had garnered more than 354,000 likes and 84,600 retweets. Bernier, who is black, said in the tweet that she didn’t think the quote would make it into the yearbook.

Reached by the Globe Tuesday, Bernier said she chose the quote to highlight the racial tensions she says she has experienced at Revere High: “We have a lot of racial issues and conflicts within our school, so I didn’t think they would allow my quote to pass through and cause more chaos over race at the end of the school year.”

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Her tweet also caught the attention of school officials, who said they will take another look at the culture of Revere High.

Dianne Kelly, Revere’s superintendent of schools, said the district strives to foster an understanding among all students, but Bernier’s post shows that it’s “clear we have some work to do in that area.’’

“Our ideal is that all kids treat each other with respect and dignity and we have a student populace that is unbiased,’’ Kelly said. “It’s a hard goal to accomplish, but one that we’re working toward.’’

So far, the district has received a few complaints about Bernier’s tweet, Kelly said, including from two parents and one student, who “felt it was a racist comment.’’

Bernier said that she has experienced mostly positive feedback on her Twitter post. But like any other viral tweet, she said it has attracted some backlash, with some detractors being her own classmates.

“Everybody thinks that speaking ‘white’ is to sound proper, and that’s not it,’’ Bernier said. “Everybody sounds how they sound, they speak how they speak.’’

As to how the quote got published, Kelly said that the yearbook is edited by Revere High students, who flag any quotes with hate speech or profanity for review by a teacher who is the yearbook advisor. The teacher would then alert the administration, and the student would be spoken with.

“Even though this quote has racial overtones, it’s not an outright threat or hate speech or something that would fall into that category, which might be why it was not flagged,’’ Kelly said.

When asked about Bernier’s allegations of racial tensions at Revere High, Kelly said the dynamics within the school echo the larger community — as well as the nation.

“We are certainly aware of the racial tension that exists across the country right now,’’ Kelly said, adding that the district’s efforts to combat such issues are “sometimes hampered by what’s happening outside of the schoolhouse.’’

Over the past two decades, Revere High School’s student body has become increasingly diverse. Of the nearly 2,000 students enrolled this school year, 56 percent of the students identify as Hispanic, 6.2 percent as Asian, and 4 percent as African-American, according to data from the Massachusetts Department of Education.

Kelly also said administrators spoke to Bernier on Wednesday about the tweet, and that the student had not expressed any concern regarding racial relations within the school.

“They talked to her to let her know she can go to them if she needs help with managing anything she’s going through, or anything that follows up,’’ Kelly said.

Administrators also spoke with Bernier about the “lasting impression that Twitter feeds and Instagram pages can have well into their lives,’’ Kelly said.

“We hope kids make good decisions,’’ she said.