Anshina Verma Q3 Blog #9 - Grab Your Pitchforks America
Red drips off the drywall, coating the cement below in crimson.
“It looked like blood,” a student said.
Many thought it was; it wouldn’t be beyond the realm of possibility.
At Grenada High School, only twenty-five minutes away from Fremont, racist and hateful rhetoric plagued the lives of high school students.
“I heard the F slur so many times you’d think it was my name,” said a junior at Grenada High School.
“As someone who has experienced online threats of [death], I cannot regard such symbols [like a swastika] as a joke,” another student states.
It took the LPD (Livermore Police Department) a few hours to determine that it was spray paint, not blood. But the reported incident of a crimson swastika drawn on the walls of a high school was the first of many, with another instance being students audaciously designating colored and white bathrooms, only permitting select students to use each one.
Sadly, as the years pass, racist and discriminatory rhetoric is becoming increasingly prevalent in high school classrooms.
It’s a system of indoctrination. Psychologically speaking, humans adapt to their environment; whatever traits or behaviors they deem acceptable are ones they indulge in, hence the growing culture of racist rhetoric at Grenada High School.
“[I’ve] seen hateful language written on desks, walls, and textbooks,” a student informs the Livermore School Board.
The growing use and presence of hateful language and rhetoric is not isolated to high schools naturally, with the Trump administration's negligence, it's reached our schools, our neighborhoods, and our government.
Immigration services are growing bolder, shooting American citizens in broad daylight, orphaning children, separating families, and this is the FIRST YEAR OF FOUR. Silence regarding hateful propaganda and behaviors is proportional to those who participate in such behavior. The less we choose to speak up about behaviors like these, the more innocent children and teenagers are roped into these behaviors.
Millennials said it themselves, “We voted for Obama twice, Gen Z folded to social media and put a dictator in office.”
Cases and behaviors similar to Grenada’s only grow in magnitude and violence. What starts out as notes and drawings on school property can escalate to unwarranted racial violence, such as Renee Good, a mother of three, who was shot repeatedly in the face and was prevented from receiving aid by a nearby physician.
“Can I check a pulse!” a bystander desperately pleaded at the sight of Good’s murder in Minneapolis. ICE (Immigration and Customs Enforcement) then proceeded to turn their guns on the physician.
I’m a physician!” he says again in desperation, throwing his hands up.
“I don’t care,” was the response he received from a nearby ICE agent.
Tragic instances like Good’s will continue to occur unless we collectively as a society speak up, and if not, America has four years, or worse, more, to see how this will play out, and judging by the looks of it, it will not be good. For anyone.
Hi Anshina! Your blog was incredibly captivating, and I think that it is absolutely tragic to think that hate at this kind of level is so prevalent in high schools, and that instances like literal death threats are becoming increasingly common.
ReplyDeleteHow did we get here? How did the Bay Area, a place known for its beautiful diversity, regress into a period where students themselves are segregating one another, and where what might as well be considered the most widely recognized hate symbol is being re-created on the walls of a high school bathroom?
It’s disgusting, to say the least. Even now, many teenagers find it amusing to casually throw around slurs like the n-word or the f-slur as a kind of insult. These are terms that were quite literally designed to be hateful or to justify violence against other groups of people, so when someone today decides that it is okay to use these slurs in casual conversation, they are completely disregarding the painful history and struggle that accompanies each and every derogatory term.
The good news is, activism about issues such as the one you described has increased recently, especially following the rapidly escalating actions of ICE. History has proven time and time again that if we do not speak up and create the change that we desire, nothing is ever going to magically improve. Martin Luther King Jr., Nelson Mandela, and so many others have shown us through their actions that real change is possible if we are brave enough to fight for it.
Sometimes I forget that we live in a bubble. I’ve never experienced intentionally racist rhetoric; the worst I’ve been subjected to is “You’re a model minority,” “Of course you would be interested in going into law,” etc… Violence is a very real threat, especially against groups that have historically been discriminated against and hated. I’m reminded of the books we read earlier this year during the Anti-Prejudice unit and of all the groups that were hated in America before being welcomed as part of the country; the Irish, Italians, Chinese, Japanese, as well as countless other groups from around the world that are still waiting to be viewed as more than second-class citizens.
ReplyDeleteIt should be more concerning that this kind of behavior is being seen in high school. The teens constitute formative years, and guidance that students receive at this time is of utmost importance. Some would argue that these people would “grow out” of their violent and hateful tendencies, but that seems to be wishful thinking on their part. In a world where it’s seen as increasingly cool to be “edgy,” discriminatory rhetoric thrives, and it’s everyone’s job to put a stop to it.