Lowell High School's Newspaper of Record

The LHS Review

Lowell High School's Newspaper of Record

The LHS Review

Lowell High School's Newspaper of Record

The LHS Review

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Racism on Campus in America


By Onyeamaechi Onyenwe

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“Racism lives here and so do we!” quoted this speaker in a protest of the staff handled the situation of the racial tweets online against African Americans at the University of Missouri.

Racially motivated incidents have occurred over the past year across the United States on prestigious college and high school campuses, including Lowell High School.

Demonstrations and protests have been more frequent due to public awareness raised by social media and technology.

The demonstrators  have used social media to build support and pressure teachers and administrators toward improving tolerance among the student body and faculty of campuses.

In some cases the reactions to the incidents have resulted in job terminations or resignations.

For example, the chancellor at University of Missouri resigned and the vice chancellor lost his job due their failure to act upon the incidents.

At Boston Latin School, one of the oldest high schools in the United States, there are calls for the firing of the headmaster after racial slurs against an African-American student by a student and a racial comment made by a teacher toward another student were not addressed.

In other cases calls for social justice have brought about ad hoc committees to study the issue and make recommendations to improve tolerance on campus.

Lowell High School recently made public the results of its Cultural Competency Task Force as a result of a racially motivated incident on social media by students at the school.

LHS had its share of racial slurs on and racially charged comments last Fall when dissatisfied students used social media- Twitter group chats- to express frustration at the election of a African-American student body president.

Concerned students exposed the comments by posting screenshots of the text conversations.

Anye Nkimberg, student body president for the Class of 2016, was the focus of the comments back in October.  Students and parents protested at City Hall against the incident and its aftermath.

School officials suspended six students for publishing insensitive and racially motivated comments.

Nkimberg and his parents criticized the administration for not contacting them immediately after the incident was reported.

Headmaster Brian Martin convened an ad hoc committee of students and faculty to study the issue and make recommendations to further tolerance on campus.

The Partners in Achievement of Lowell Students, a mentoring group for LHS students, is also hosting a “Day of Dialogue on issues of social justice, racial equality and cultural competency,” to encourage discussion of the issues among the student body.

Such incidents have not only touched high school campuses. Students at University of Missouri demonstrated in the cafeteria to protest racism on their campus.

During the Missouri incident an African American student, Matthew A. Cherry, tweeted that African- Americans should stay in their dorms and lock the doors and windows because there was a white student with gun shouting the ‘N’ word. A few hours later, a second tweet came out saying the KKK is on campus.

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It was later found out the tweets were a lie but the students were angered at how teachers, staff and even the Chancellor handled the “scare.”   One complaint arose when a teacher was going to fail a frightened student if she decided to stay in because of the threats.  The student used social media to express her anxiety.

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Social media can be used to express many points of view regarding racially related incidents.  However, not all tweets may be true or confirmed as accurate.  Further examples of how tweets can be used as propaganda came in the aftermath of the Missouri incident.

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Yik Yak is an anonymous social media app where anyone one could say what they feel and all that shows is your location by state. The police were able to track and arrest 19 year old Hunter Park for his inciting comments.

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But Park was charged with making a terrorist threat and held on $4,500 bond.

Meanwhile, Payton Head, the student body president of the University, apologized to police after spreading a rumor that the KKK was on campus.

But African Americans have claimed that racist things already existed before these threats came in.


Similar events have also touched Boston’s Latin School, considered a prestigious school, which was established in 1635.

The Boston Latin school has undergone investigation after the series of racist comments were made to its African American students directly.

Also, graffiti has been found in different parts of the school, according to reports in the Boston Globe.

Lori and Milton Britton, Dorchester parents, whose daughter was threatened by a student there have expressed disappointment.

According to reports, the student made the comment, “I should lynch you with this,” while holding an electrical cord.

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Lori and Milton Britton, whose daughter was threatened by a classmate, calls for punishment

The student’s concerns had never been addressed until recently when the Superintendent of Schools and Mayor of Boston called for action.

The controversy has called some parents to request the firing of Headmaster Lynn Teta.

According to reports, she told two assistant headmasters, while one of them told the boy to write a letter of apology.

When the teacher did’t accept the apology, the boy ripped up the letter.

The teenager, whose name has not been publicized due to privacy policies, and her parents are worried about their daughter’s safety.

As reported in the Boston Globe in January, two Boston Latin School students Kylie Webster-Cazeau and Meggie Noel went on social media to inform against racism at the school and also online in a YouTube video.

Lori and her daughter cried in their kitchen, according to the report in the Boston Globe.

Another Dorchester mom, Rosalind Wornum, had a meeting with the headmaster and called for a firing of a teacher who used the N word during an English lesson on Huckleberry Finn, according to the Boston Globe report.

The teacher allegedly said, “What up my [bleep]?” to Destinee Wornum and then asked, “How does that make you feel?”

Destinee requested a meeting with Teta but Teta’s secretary never got back to her.

Destinee said in the Boston Globe, “When I never got an answer I just gave up, because I was frustrated,” Wornum said. “At that point I was like, if they’re not doing anything for me by this point, then I don’t want to risk my grade or my place in the school. So I was just like, maybe it’s best for me to just stay quiet.”

This investigation is still going on at the Boston Latin School, according to the Boston Globe reports.

Andre Regal helped edit this story.  Boston Globe reports contributed to this story.

 

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