The Tip Of The Iceberg: Students must acknowledge racism at school and stop underplaying the issue

Over 100 students — including many minority students — walked out of East during fifth period protesting racial awareness on Nov. 28 while 785 viewers watched on The Harbinger’s Instagram Livestream.

Comments rolled in throughout the 35-minute stream, including burner accounts for students who wanted to remain anonymous:

“Chocolate people going crazy.”

“Crime rates down in school.”

“Three-fifths of the school showed up.”

The comments and student body’s casual reaction to the walkout undeniably revealed how deeply rooted racism at East is and how ignorant many students are to racism.

The minute that there was a platform for racist comments, students rushed in from more than 10 accounts. 

Students willing to go out of their way to create fake profiles before publicly commenting is just the tip of the iceberg of racism — dozens more students watching in classes laughed along while reading the sickening comments.

There was an uproar as each new comment popped up. Students in the cafeteria verbally reacted with laughter and exclamations of “Good one!” as comments piled on. Others quietly walked to class with their eyes glued to the live. 

Bystanders staying silent against the racist comments adds to the problem — change cannot happen without voices speaking out.

Laughing at the comments invalidates the experiences of minority students and those protesting. It makes a significant topic seem unimportant or viewed as a joke. 83% of students at East have heard people laugh about the comments on the live, according to a poll of 165 students.

While racism can be a difficult topic to address, it’s a conversation that needs to happen. Instead of watching with amusement, students need to speak up about the issue at hand and why it matters. This could be through a meeting or simply bringing up an issue to friends or family and finding a way to take action. This way, we can address the problem head on instead of brushing it off. 

Some students even used the protest as an excuse to miss class. Students that left school to get Chick-fil-A completely disrespected the cause for walking out. While over 100 students were circling the school demanding justice, others were ordering a side of fries.

East needs to do better. 

While not all East students are racist, the point is that the racist commenters were East students, and this is a real problem that shouldn’t be blindsided by how “great” East kids are. If this isn’t recognized as a problem, the problem will never be fixed.

As much as administrators try to rightfully punish students, at the end of the day it’s up to the students to make the right decisions.

It’s the job of the student body to make other people feel like they have a safe space at school. We’re the ones walking the halls and learning in the classrooms — what we say matters. Racism is a serious issue that’s not limited to when East is in the news, and something needs to change.

Students need to take accountability for the racism that goes on at East, and confront those around them that tolerate racism so we can create a safe environment for minority groups at East.