Some students at Boston Latin, the country’s oldest public school, say it has created a hostile environment in which racial insensitivity is too common, and they have started a hashtag to tell their stories and raise awareness.
At Brooklyn Technical High School, in New York City, a similar social media campaign is underway.
Do you think your school is sometimes a hostile environment for people of color, or anyone else who is in the minority there? If so, how much does that concern you? Have you been the victim of discrimination at school?
In “Students Say Racial Hostilities Simmered at Historic Boston Latin School,” Jess Bidgood writes:
With court-ordered desegregation of public schools unfolding violently across this city in the mid-1970s, Boston Latin, then about 90 percent white, began admitting more minority students, remaining a place of relative calm in a city engulfed in protest.
But in the last two weeks, the school, a beacon of high achievement founded by Puritans in 1635, has emerged at the center of a new discussion of racial tensions. Two black students, employing YouTube videos and a hashtag, started a campaign to expose what they see as a hostile school climate — one in which, they said, racial insensitivity is too common and hate speech is not effectively punished.
The students, Meggie Noel, 17, and Kylie Webster-Cazeau, 18, complained of discriminatory comments — “things like, ‘Oh, you’ll get into college because you’re black,’ ” Ms. Noel said. They also said their fellow students had used racial slurs and told black students to “go back to Africa” during online debates, with few repercussions.
“It just felt like what we go through every day was completely disregarded,” Ms. Noel said. “What is the oldest public school in the nation going to do, moving forward, to address these issues?”
when a teacher calls everything in an Amy Tan book "exotic" and "oriental" (Asians are POC too) #blackatbls
— maya (@magicmanmaya) January 20, 2016
The accusations, which multiplied as students and alumni used social media to detail their experiences, swiftly drew the attention of city officials. Mayor Martin J. Walsh said he had urged school administrators to look into the complaints.
Students: Read the entire article, then tell us …
— Do any of the incidents in this article sound familiar? Have you witnessed or been the victim of anything similar at any school you have attended?
— Although you may originally have interpreted our question to describe blatantly offensive and menacing language and actions, this article points out that “students at many campuses lamented persistent insensitivity, which they said was demeaning and wearing.” Have you experienced these kinds of microaggressions? How have you handled them?
— Have you been following related news about campus racial unrest across the United States this past fall? Read what some of these activists say. What do you think of their demands?
— If you think your school has a hostile environment for some groups of students, how should it improve its climate? How could you help?
— Do you have more to say? Join New York Times journalists for a live conversation about race on campuses here on Thursday, Feb. 4, at 3 p.m. Eastern.
Students 13 and older are invited to comment below. All comments are moderated by Learning Network staff members, but please keep in mind that once your comment is accepted, it will be made public.