A few weeks ago, VHHS principal Dr. Guillaume led “round table” discussions for students interested in sharing their perspectives on racism in the school. In September, the school was in the news for how it handled race-related incidents involving ex-Bears player Desmond Clark and his son, who is a student at VHHS. Guillaume held the round tables to help address some of the student concern surrounding those events.

“I do think there was a fair number of kids who came who did feel like that situation was handled in a way they didn’t agree with,” Guillaume said. “While I wasn’t able to answer all their questions about how we handled it, I was able to let them vent. Some of that stuff is water under the bridge and we can’t go back, but I wanted an opportunity for anyone to be able to say ‘Hey, I have something to say about this.’”

Jordan Nabat (12) attended the round tables during sixth period to give his input on the events with Desmond Clark. He felt the school didn’t handle the situation as well as it could have, and he wanted to voice his concern.

“[The events] upset everybody at the school, even me, so that’s why I went to the racism discussions,” Nabat said. “Dr. Guillaume did a really nice job of letting us voice our opinion and saying how we felt about the whole situation with the racism in the school.”

Although some of the conversation centered mostly around the events specific to Clark, the larger topic of racism in general at VHHS also permeated the discussions. Charli Mosley (11), who also attended the round table discussions during sixth period, talked about how often she hears racist or insensitive jokes around school.

“I see people be racist in the form of jokes all the time,” Mosley said. “Some people say ‘I told this one joke about black people, and my one black friend thinks it’s funny so it’s ok for me to say it.’ If your comedy is surrounded by people getting offended, then you don’t have a good sense of humor.”

When students act racist, in the form of jokes or otherwise, the discipline policy is largely case-by-case. Most issues are student-reported (rather than staff-reported), and they usually involve a dean sitting down with both parties to discuss what happened.

“What I find is that students aren’t intentionally mean and hurtful, but they say things jokingly and don’t realize how that feels for the person they’re saying that to,” said dean and Black Student Union (BSU) adviser Mrs. Powell. “Once we usually have those dialogues, kids get it that they can’t say that at school. It’s kind of like how you can’t yell ‘Fire!’ in an airport–there’s certain things you just can’t do.”

Students agreed with Mrs. Powell during the round tables that the most common form of racism at VHHS usually seems to be intended as a joke. Jose Sanchez (12), who attended the round tables, brought up how sometimes racism can even occur between two friends.

“Some of the people I hang out with use me being Hispanic as a way to crack a joke,” Sanchez said. “At some points I’m like ‘Man, I hear this so much’ and it kind of affects me.”

Because racist jokes aren’t the most overt form of discrimination, they can be hard to address in a school environment, because students telling them don’t think of themselves as doing anything wrong. Many teachers and staff struggle to find a balance between addressing an issue and letting students have their fun.

“I think there might be a joke between two people, and it’s understood that they’re buddies or friends, but they’re not considering who else is listening,” Guillaume said. “I think probably as staff we’ve become accustomed to kids joking, so we’re less likely to step in and put a stop to it because it’s become a cultural norm that probably needs to shift a little bit.”

As a next step in shifting that cultural norm at VHHS, Guillaume plans to follow up with certain groups from the round table discussions like Latino Alliance or SAGA and get their input. He said a common theme that came up at the round tables was kids not feeling like their perspective was understood, and he wants to zero in on those students specifically so he can help them.

“I think there are some groups of kids here who feel like their voice isn’t necessarily heard,” Guillaume said. “I heard that over and over again. So now that I understand more what the issues are and what concerns people have, now I want to go back to those individual groups and ask them how we can help their voice be heard.”

“My freshman year, I was sitting in class when my digital watch went off,” Muslim Student Alliance President Yasmeen Abdallah (12) said. “The guy sitting next to me got startled, looked at me, then started to laugh [because] he assumed that it was a bomb or something.”

Abdallah works with her fellow club members to help students’ voices be heard. She said one of the main reasons MSA began was to get rid of negative stereotypes and educate students on what Islam is really about to hopefully make VHHS more sensitive. She spoke recently at the Freshman RITE Assembly about her experience with prejudice and insensitivity at the school.

To further Guillaume’s work with the round tables, Powell said BSU will be holding a few events in the upcoming weeks. Their “Lunch and Learn” on October 22, co-hosted with Latino Alliance, will screen part of the thought-provoking documentary “White People” which talks about race in America. MSA will also be holding an event in November. Powell and Guillaume hope these events and other similar ones will encourage students to think about their actions and be more sensitive.
“I think the important thing is that I’m not afraid of, and we’re not afraid of as a school, to address the issue and become better,” Guillaume said. “I think the easy thing would be to just ignore it or say we’re fine, but I don’t think that’s the healthy thing to do in this case. I hope to get to the other side of this and say in general, that was a good thing, and I think as a community we’re better off because of it.”