Surely by now you have seen the photo circulating on social media with six American teenage girls—flanked abreast, smiles ablaze—and the n-word plastered across their chests. Each young woman is donning a black t-shirt with a gold letter or asterisk on it. When standing together, the word “N-I-*-*-E-R” is spelled out.
Apparently members of the senior class of Desert Vista High School in Ahwatukee, a neighborhood of Phoenix, took a photo earlier that day for the yearbook spelling out “Best*You’ve*Ever*Seen*Class*of*2016.” Six of them got together later with the bright idea of standing together to spell out the n-word. Somehow the photo found its way to Instagram.
Since then, the girls have been given a five day suspension. There have been many many calls for their expulsion. Some have said that this should follow them everywhere, especially on their college applications.
This diary isn’t about any of that.
I’m struck by a tweet from our own Shaun King:
He’s right. Just WHAT were they thinking, and how did that discussion go down?
After all, they obviously knew that “n---” was bad. Or did they think that by having the two asterisks that it meant that it was OK? Were they trying to attempt humor?
Or was there specific intent?
It should be noted that in February 2014, a black teacher, Dr. Cicely Cobb, filed a federal lawsuit against Desert Vista High School and the Tempe Union High School District, making allegations of racial discrimination by students and a lack of action by administrators when she reported such incidents.
Suspension and expulsion won’t get the answers to these questions. You first have to find out the answer to these questions: Do they REALLY understand why they were punished, and why the very IDEA of what they did was wrong? I mean, we don’t know how they had been taught at home, or among their peers. If it turns out that they have been taught to hate, this is one thing. If, on the other hand, they had been taught that racial slurs are wrong, among other things, then perhaps what we have here is a teachable moment about privilege. Because if their thinking was “we didn’t really spell it out, we had the asterisks”, then that is their privilege talking.
As an educator in as they say a “poor urban area”, I have been used to seeing the “zero tolerance” policies played out. The school I teach at now, however, has chosen a different path. In this restorative justice path, the students would ultimately be reconciled with those they had offended with their actions. They would know why what they did was wrong, and they would learn to teach others that what they did was wrong as well.
The news organizations are spinning this as “girls making a stupid decision to do a stupid thing”. But we cannot dismiss it as just that. This kind of thinking is some of the worst kind of privilege. The privilege of being able to get away with not knowing any better.
And THAT, dear Kossacks, is where our task truly begins.