The Usual

A teenager from Howard High School posted racist content on social media. The response from other teens was swift: to call her out, to shine a light on her racist behavior. The principal of  Howard High School has issued the usual statement.

Here we go again.

All those folks out there who claim there’s no racism in Columbia/HoCo, have you talked to your kids lately? Because they might be able to tell you a few things.

Sure, it’s hard to be a teenager under a life-changing quarantine situation but that wouldn’t expose something that wasn’t there before. It was there.

I have absolutely no preaching in me this morning. None. I’m heart sick by the everyday, “everybody knows it” kind of racism in our community, combined with the angry, self-righteous denial that anything is wrong. One of the teens who responded on Twitter asked why they were going to “ruin a girl’s life for something everybody says anyway.”

She doesn’t really know why it’s wrong. She wouldn’t have made a racist post like the one in question, but she doesn’t really see what the big deal is. And she will grown up unwilling to address racism in her community. We grow a lot of people like that here.

The problem isn’t simply with the one who posts the racist language but also with all who are willing to look the other way.