(NAME-MCE) Racial Slurs, Intimidation in Schools

[Paul C. Gorski]

Hate Speech, Racial Slurs, Intimidation Discovered in Local Schools

http://www.digtriad.com/news/investigations/article.aspx?storyid=98879&catid=19

Greensboro, NC -- We'd like our schools to be free from the world's hate.

But some students face it day after day.

"To Northwest the N-word was just a word," said Northwest Guilford  
High School student Kinyetta Williams.

"In the females' bathroom, in one of the stalls, it said 'Whites  
Only,'" said her sister Maretta Williams.

The Williams say they were forced to leave Northwest High School to  
get away from what they describe as persistent racial intimidation.

"No matter how much you talked or complained or fussed about it nobody  
ever did anything," Kinyetta said.

They shared their experiences with 2 Wants to Know.

Our investigation uncovered evidence of white supremacy and racism on  
the walls of their school's bathroom.

As president of the council of PTA's, Terrina Picarello says she hears  
plenty about racial tension from parents and teachers.

"It's in a lot of our schools and I don't think it will be true at all  
to say that it only happens in this pocket or that pocket," said  
Picarello

Picarello says faculty members often fail to address claims of racism.

And Monica Walker, the district's diversity officer hopes to change that.

"We've not adequately trained our personnel to know exactly what  
should be done," Walker said.

"When is one incident more than just a minor infraction or a minor  
incident to looking at what happens when the number of these incidents  
begins to swell?"

Walker plans to develop a better way for students to report hate  
speech and discrimination.

She'll likely get a lot of responses.

Dozens of student complaints came to 2 Wants to Know describing  
encounters at Northwest High School.

Among them we found messages of hate saved on school computers, racial  
slurs, even threats of hangings and cross burnings.

Many are filled with hate speech, racially charged jokes and  
derogatory comments.

Kinyetta wrote her own account of one day in her life at school, a  
tormenting ride on the school bus.

"A girl told my friend that we were some stupid "n" and we needed to  
be shot," she read.

"It's not fair," she says with tears in her eyes.

"We shouldn't be treated like that. Just as they have a right to ride  
the bus so do we."

Monica Walker says pain stricken students could soon have a place for relief.

"It would be interesting during a school day that there's a place  
where kids feel safe enough where they can go to an administrator or a  
person and feel like it doesn't have any what I would call latent  
ramifications where they can say 'this happened. What do I do?'" said  
Walker.

The help comes too late for the Williams sisters.

Their pleas for help went nowhere.

And they say it's time for the hate to stop.

"There is no more asking. Something has to be done," Maretta Williams said.

The Diversity Officer says racism is not focused just on one campus.  
It is something all schools face everywhere.

The Guilford County School district also told us they're working on a  
process that will make it easier for students to report racism or any  
other type of problems.

Currently, the district wants students and parents to report problems  
to the principal.

If you're not satisfied, you can contact the system's school support office.

In addition, we have information from Guilford County Schools to help  
take you through the process.

Also, the National Conference for Community and Justice (NCCJ) offers  
students, parents and the wider community workshops and resources to  
help build a safer and more inclusive environment.

Source: WFMY News 2

Copyright: 2008 digtriad.com


-- 
Paul C. Gorski
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