At the beginning of the school year, the student body was shocked after two of our students used hateful slurs for Black people and gay people live on social media. On the Monday of the next week, our school faculty held a schoolwide assembly on the topic of hate speech.
“And even when something goes very, very wrong, you all deserve the best, fairest, most thoughtful process, so, therefore, we don’t talk about these things,” said ASFA President Dr. Tim Mitchell on the DJD stage that day. “And in the absence of talking about those things, people assume that nothing is being done, or that there is a lack of care. And that is just frustrating, but also, you need to know that it is not the case.”
But what is ASFA planning to do to deter hate speech in the future? And what are the procedures in place if such an event happens again?
ASFA Attendance and Conduct Manager Will Marble said he feels disappointed that students at our school are using hate speech, yet he is hopeful that this experience, as distasteful as it was, would open the floor for more discussion on hate speech and discrimination.
Marble promoted ASFA's student affinity groups — namely, the Black Student Union and the Gender-Sexuality Alliance. He maintained that the most important thing was to open up conversation and listen to student voices, but he also mentioned the two productions that our theater department recently put — "The Three Sisters" being a play about a predominantly white group of people shortly after the Civil War, and "Flyin' West" being about a group of black people in Kansas having to protect their land.
“We’re looking to enhance that experience by having some dialogue before those plays,” he told me.
Marble also said that the student handbook was currently "under construction," so to speak, and administrators were planning to add direct rules about hate speech instead of allusions to it in other rules.
Student Support Services Director Ms. Kim Strickland expressed the same feelings of disappointment that Mr. Marble mentioned, but she was happy to have the chance to show new students of ours that hate speech is not to be tolerated at ASFA. Both Strickland and Marble said they were aware of past instances of hate speech — but Strickland added that she was made aware due to students informing her.
Strickland clearly outlined how our school would deal with known users of hate speech. Depending on the severity of the hypothetical incident, she said, the punishments range between multiple-days suspension, parent-student conferences, and even expulsion.
“It’s no slap on the wrist,” she summarized.
Both Marble and Strickland promoted the Gender-Sexuality Alliance and the Black Student Union as resources to help make a change and educate oneself. Ms. Strickland stressed the importance of learning about heritage and culture through these organizations.
So what can ASFA students do? Connect with either of these groups, whether through attending their meetings or speaking to their representatives. The next GSA and BSU leaders are Avishai Goldberg and Joscelyn Peterson, respectively, if you would like to contact them. Another thing to do is to sign your name on the anti-hate speech pledge down in the cafeteria. If nothing else, The Star hopes that this incident will open a new platform for people to tell their stories and spread peace and unity rather than hate.
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