The three D.C. students couldnt believe the news. Theyd developed a method to purify lead-contaminated water in school drinking fountains, and NASA announced last month that they were finalists in the agencys prestigious high school competition the only all-black, female team to make it that far.
Hidden figures in the making, one of the teens wrote in a celebratory text message to her teammates and coaches, a reference to the 2016 movie about the true story of three African American women who worked for NASA in the 1960s.
The next stage of the science competition included public voting, and the Banneker High School students Mikayla Sharrieff, India Skinner and Bria Snell, all 17-year-old high school juniors turned to social media to promote their project.
But while the teens were gaining traction on social media and racking up votes, users on 4chan an anonymous Internet forum where users are known to push hoaxes and spew racist and homophobic comments were trying to ensure the students wouldnt win.
The anonymous posters used racial epithets, argued that the students project did not deserve to be a finalist and said that the black community was voting for the teens only because of their race. They urged people to vote against the Banneker trio, and one user offered to put the topic on an Internet thread about President Trump to garner more attention. They recommended computer programs that would hack the voting system to give a team of teenage boys a boost. ...