Six Chaska students and their families are suing the school district after the school officials ignored blatantly racist actions against their students. 

This is a scary reality for many students and I think the lawsuit is a necessity.  According to Star Tribune  the nearly 50-page lawsuit “asks for a jury trial to determine damages for civil rights violations that resulted in educational loss, mental anguish and emotional distress.” The students/families say that “teachers and administrators knew about the abuse, but did nothing to stop it” Over the last year there have been many incidents that have finally sparked the conversation of systemic racism with the Eastern Carver County Schools. 

These incidents have included (but are not limited to), a student writing a racial slur on another students clothing, a photo of a student in blackface that made it in the yearbook and even a racist map created by white students featuring 25 black students that they named “negro hill”. There have also been more violent situations such as “a white student posted a video to Snapchat threatening to shoot several black students if they attended a school assembly on race relations” according to the lawsuit and Star Tribune. The student had a gun on his lap during this video.  The fact that these events are still happening in 2019 is appalling, I can barely wrap my head around it. 

These incidents have started quite a reaction in the community, with many assemblies, meetings with district attorneys and as of September 3rd, a lawsuit. Parents of the victims are mad and rightfully so. Being a parent is difficult enough, so having to worry about your child being exposed to racially motivated hate is repulsive. Possibly the worst thing about the situation is that the events are at school, where parents send their children to learn and make mistakes in a safe space surrounded by their peers.

 It is disturbing, to say the least, that no administrators, teachers or adults, tried to stop these conspicuous acts of hate. I thought adults at school were supposed to make students feel safe and as if they are there to help them. As a white female, I have never been a victim of racially motivated anger so it was very hard to hear that these incidents took place without intervention by people with privilege. I believe that white privilege is very real and needs to be used for people whose voices remain unheard.

High School is already so hard for students, let alone being singled out or attacked over your race. It 2019 and these vile acts of hate needs to stop. In the future I hope people can learn from the mistakes that these administrators made and make school life better for students of color.