Racism in our Schools

Dear Editor:

When I read the Forum headline “’Buckwheat comment costs official,” I must admit I was stunned. That this could happen in our community – in 2011? But the article itself was even more troubling. This is about power and authority. To have a person in authority at one of our high schools call a black student “Buckwheat” and then receive a note in his “permanent” file and “sensitivity training” (whatever that would be), as the school administration’s response is disturbing to me. The Superintendent seemed anxious to conclude the episode and in “returning our school to the school climate we think it needs to be”. What should that climate be? How do we want that to happen?

The Forum headline is also disappointing. What did this “cost” the “official?” Conspicuously absent from the article was any discussion about what it may have “cost” the young black man who was called “Buckwheat” by the school official in power who told him to remove or cover his rosary? What’s the cost to other students of color and all our students to see that this type of racially insensitive comment is tolerated and the administration wants to move to put it behind them as quickly as possible? Perhaps the Forum article headline should have been “School official makes racially insensitive remark.” The article goes on to discuss how our Superintendent said the district was told by police that rosaries are “used in places as an identifier of gang affiliation.” So what if it is? That does not give our adult school administrators the right to call black students “Buckwheat.” We need to remember who the adult educator is and who the student is.

This letter is not meant to be an indictment of our school leaders. To the contrary, it is meant to spur some debate and dialogue about the difficult issue of race. Rather than being eager to move on, I am hopeful that our school administrators, as educators and shapers of our children’s values, become curious about what type of environment exists in our schools that permits such a response. That’s how we all learn and, hopefully, make better decisions in the future.

Sincerely,

Tom Fiebiger
Fargo, ND