A racial slur was discovered on the morning of Oct. 2, written on a whiteboard in room C211, where the AT African American History class meets. Later that day, during lunch, the Black Students’ Association held a meeting with administrators, including Principal Martin Woods and Dean of Students Ana Campos, to address the impact of the incident.
The Equal Opportunity Services office is investigating this incident.
Junior Kylie Carter attended the BSA meeting. While she said that she wasn’t surprised by the incident of racism, she still thought it was very hurtful.
“It’s just kind of ignorant and really hurtful, but honestly, none of us were surprised, because it happens. Racist stuff happens so often, it’s just annoying at this point,” Kylie said. “So yeah, we were all really pissed.”
Kylie felt that the administration should brief the wider school community on what happened, and that people should acknowledge the incident.
“People should know about this, people should feel bad, and feel sympathy,” Kylie said. “It shouldn’t be a secret or anything, because it’s a real thing and it’s hurting people in our community.”
Junior Zoe Cobb, a co-president of BSA, found this incident to be a betrayal of her faith in the U-High community.
“I was really disappointed upon finding out,” Zoe said, speaking for herself and not for the entire club. “I really thought we were turning a corner as a community in this new year. I had a new sense of trust in my community, and this felt like a betrayal of that trust.
Senior Jonah Austen, BSA’s other co-president, was shocked by this incident and observed that others had personal reactions to the incident.
“I kind of wanted to block it out and pretend it didn’t happen. I saw it up and I kind of just stared at it for a bit,” Jonah said. “For a lot of people, the phantom of what happened, not knowing who wrote it, hit them personally.”
Zoe wants the incident to be addressed as a community, not left to just one group.
“Let’s all work together to figure out how to be better. This is not just a ‘Black Students’ Association gives another presentation about things that are going on in our community and how they affect us,’” Zoe said. “Everyone should stand unified behind this single effort.”
