The Anne Arundel County, Maryland NAACP has alleged that black students at a high school in the town of Pasadena are subjected to “daily abuse and humiliation.”
At a press conference last Tuesday, NAACP President Rev. Stephen Tillett said students at Chesapeake High School “regularly use racist language,” and called it a “symptom of longstanding racism in the community.”
“In Chesapeake High School and its feeder schools we have seen a decades-long pattern of resistance to change and the creation of a hostile environment for children of color,” Tillett said according to The Baltimore Sun.
The Sun notes the reverend was joined by several families from the school and cited a recent threat on social media which had targeted African-American students.
However, you have to read down a few more paragraphs to discover this (emphasis added):
Lt. Ryan Frashure, Anne Arundel County police spokesman, said investigators have identified the student who posted that threat — an African-American student who was charged as a juvenile with disrupting school activities.
Irrelevant, according to Tillett. Just because a black student made the threat “doesn’t cancel out the other challenges the school has had historically,” he said.
“In Chesapeake High School and its feeder schools we have seen a decades-long pattern of resistance to change and the creation of a hostile environment for children of color,” Tillett said.
“It makes students feel unwelcome and unsafe. It makes parents fear for their children,” he said. “And it is the shame of the Anne Arundel County Public School administration that continues to assert that these many incidents are ‘isolated’ incidents.” …
Tillett said also discussed disparity in achievement and discipline for minority students compared to whites in Anne Arundel County Public Schools.
About 18 percent of African-American students passed the 2017 PARCC Algebra 1 exam countywide, compared to 26.9 percent of Hispanic students passed, 55.7 percent of white students passed and 64.2 percent of Asian students.
The federal Department of Education’s Civil Rights Data Collection shows figures from 2013 indicating that while 21 percent of the system’s student population was black, they comprised 44 percent of suspensions.
Other allegations of racist behavior included a girl being suspended for attempting to break up a fight after her friend was called a racial slur, and a teacher allegedly using a slur and telling a black male student that he “didn’t trust” African-Americans.
Spokesman for Anne Arundel schools Bob Mosier said the district is “eager to work with anyone” to solve the issues laid out by Tillett.
“We have things foisted upon us when hundreds or thousands of students cross paths every single day,” Mosier said. “Certainly, we’re working hard at it, not just at Chesapeake High School but at every school.”
MORE: ‘Non-white’ high school student admits to racial slur
MORE: ‘Colored’ water fountain scandal was student hoax
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