The reaction to this picture has highlighted what is wrong with American society

Teachers and students have been rallying together since the tragic shooting at Santa Fe High School on 18 May. The horrific shooting saw 10 people lose their lives with a further 13 injured.

At a time when America should perhaps focus up making schools a safe space for learning, there appears to be a bigger discussion around race and segregation, after a picture went viral of of Nicole, a black student at Santa Fe High, not holding hands with her white classmates before a basketball game.

Social media predictably exploded at the cropped picture and the race card was immediately played: 'Why they holding everyone’s hand except the black girl?'

Apparently no context was needed for people to start throwing around some pretty damning accusations at the drop of a hat, stirring up controversy spectacularly.

The situation quickly spiralled of control with numerous accusations of racism. That is, until Nicole's mum stepped...

But even this explanation from Nicole's own mother wasn't good enough for some, to which she responded on Twitter with:

my daughter didn't want to cry before she had to sing and holding hands would have caused her to start crying that's the story nothing about race.

The mother went on to explain that the picture was also in fact cropped, and the full picture shows there were other girls standing beside Nicole who were not holding hands either.

We'd like to say that's where the story ends, all wrapped up nicely with these people admitting they were quick to stir things up and that they were wrong about the situation...

Seldom do things work out that way and Nicole's mother, who happens to be white, was then faced with a barrage of questions and dismissals that she was even related to Nicole.

People still had a problem believing that this was Nicole's mother. So much so that Nicole herself had to film a video in response.

In the end, things began to calm down and people began supporting Nicole and her mother.

Great going, America.

Read more: Students at Santa Fe High School protested against guns less than a month ago