High School Students Walk Out in Response to Racist Threats
More than a thousand high school students in Berkeley, California walked out of class on November 5 in a protest against racist threats left on a school library's computer in support of the Ku Klux Klan and threatening a "public lynching" next month.
"This is an act of domestic terrorism," one student attending the protest told Fusion. "This is terrorism and it should be treated as such."
More than a thousand high school students in Berkeley, California walked out of class on November 5 in a protest against racist threats left on a school library's computer in support of the Ku Klux Klan and threatening a "public lynching" next month.
"This is an act of domestic terrorism," one student attending the protest told Fusion. "This is terrorism and it should be treated as such."
The controversy began at around 12:30 p.m. on Wednesday when people at Berkeley High School -- a public school located a few blocks away from University of California -- discovered that one of the school library's computers was displaying a page full of racist slurs and threats, including messages like "KKK Forever" and "Public Lynching December 9th 2015."
School district spokesperson Mark Coplan said that no hacking or actual changing of the school library's website was involved. Instead, the messages were part of a displayed image that someone left open on the computer screen. Later that night, Berkeley High School's Black Student Union tweeted a photo of the computer screen for everyone to see and released a statement.
"The perpetrator sympathizes with the racist cause of the KKK and makes a clear threat to lynch black students this December," the statement read. "The terrorists call for the death of all black people in the message. We are disgusted by this act of terror and demand it be investigated as such."
The school's principal, Sam Pasarow, also sent out an email at around 10:30 p.m. on Wednesday night.
"Today in the library, at approximately 12:30 p.m., a hateful and racist message was discovered on one of the library computers, containing threatening language toward African Americans," he wrote in the email. "The administration is looking into who posted this message. This is a hate crime and messages such as this one will not stand in our community."
The next day, Berkeley High students Alecia Harger, Nebe Zekaryas, and the rest of the Black Student Union organized a walkout, rally, and march to spread awareness of the incident, as well as racism in general on school campuses. Early on Thursday morning, students walked out of class and held a rally at the community center on campus where Berkeley Unified School District Superintendent Donald Evans, Principal Pasarow, students, and members of the Black Student Union addressed the crowd.
After the speeches, students began walking off campus through Martin Luther King, Jr. Civic Center Park and headed toward Old City Hall. After hitting Old City Hall, the protesters then marched through the streets and arrived at UC Berkeley, where they chanted "You're the ones who showed us how, UC Berkeley join us now," "Black lives matter," and "No justice, no peace," as they marched through the university's campus.
"Never have I seen something this unified," Berkeley High senior and Black Student Union member Dante Ryan told Berkeleyside. "All the legends of the civil rights movement are looking down on us real proud."
The protesters made more speeches once on the UC Berkeley campus and thanked authorities like Principal Pasarow for supporting the march and the students. Pasarow then raised his fist in solidarity.
"I absolutely support the protests. The leadership the students have shown today is incredible," he told Berkeleyside. "I'm all in favor of the importance of instructional minutes in the classroom, but this learning experience is incredible for the students."
He also promised to hold an all-school assembly on December 9, the date that the racist messages said would include a "public lynching," examining the contributions of the black community.
Shortly before 1 p.m. the protest ended and Berkeley High students made their way back to their school. No arrests or confrontations were reported by police.
Later that night, Pasarow sent out an email informing students and staff that the 15-year-old student responsible for the racist messages had been identified. The student's name will not be released due to student privacy laws, but Berkeley police say the student will be turned over "to juvenile probation for review of charges."
This particular racist incident follows two other incidents over the past year, including a noose left on a tree at the school in October 2014 and an incident earlier this year in June where a message in the yearbook referred to a group of students of color as future "trash collators" (sic).
Despite these incidents, Thursday's walkout and protest was well-attended, peaceful and widely supported by school staff and local school officials. It also ultimately pushed the student responsible for the threats to confess while bringing together many of Berkeley High's students.
An Urgent Message From Our Co-Founder
Dear Common Dreams reader, It’s been nearly 30 years since I co-founded Common Dreams with my late wife, Lina Newhouser. We had the radical notion that journalism should serve the public good, not corporate profits. It was clear to us from the outset what it would take to build such a project. No paid advertisements. No corporate sponsors. No millionaire publisher telling us what to think or do. Many people said we wouldn't last a year, but we proved those doubters wrong. Together with a tremendous team of journalists and dedicated staff, we built an independent media outlet free from the constraints of profits and corporate control. Our mission has always been simple: To inform. To inspire. To ignite change for the common good. Building Common Dreams was not easy. Our survival was never guaranteed. When you take on the most powerful forces—Wall Street greed, fossil fuel industry destruction, Big Tech lobbyists, and uber-rich oligarchs who have spent billions upon billions rigging the economy and democracy in their favor—the only bulwark you have is supporters who believe in your work. But here’s the urgent message from me today. It's never been this bad out there. And it's never been this hard to keep us going. At the very moment Common Dreams is most needed, the threats we face are intensifying. We need your support now more than ever. We don't accept corporate advertising and never will. We don't have a paywall because we don't think people should be blocked from critical news based on their ability to pay. Everything we do is funded by the donations of readers like you. When everyone does the little they can afford, we are strong. But if that support retreats or dries up, so do we. Will you donate now to make sure Common Dreams not only survives but thrives? —Craig Brown, Co-founder |
More than a thousand high school students in Berkeley, California walked out of class on November 5 in a protest against racist threats left on a school library's computer in support of the Ku Klux Klan and threatening a "public lynching" next month.
"This is an act of domestic terrorism," one student attending the protest told Fusion. "This is terrorism and it should be treated as such."
The controversy began at around 12:30 p.m. on Wednesday when people at Berkeley High School -- a public school located a few blocks away from University of California -- discovered that one of the school library's computers was displaying a page full of racist slurs and threats, including messages like "KKK Forever" and "Public Lynching December 9th 2015."
School district spokesperson Mark Coplan said that no hacking or actual changing of the school library's website was involved. Instead, the messages were part of a displayed image that someone left open on the computer screen. Later that night, Berkeley High School's Black Student Union tweeted a photo of the computer screen for everyone to see and released a statement.
"The perpetrator sympathizes with the racist cause of the KKK and makes a clear threat to lynch black students this December," the statement read. "The terrorists call for the death of all black people in the message. We are disgusted by this act of terror and demand it be investigated as such."
The school's principal, Sam Pasarow, also sent out an email at around 10:30 p.m. on Wednesday night.
"Today in the library, at approximately 12:30 p.m., a hateful and racist message was discovered on one of the library computers, containing threatening language toward African Americans," he wrote in the email. "The administration is looking into who posted this message. This is a hate crime and messages such as this one will not stand in our community."
The next day, Berkeley High students Alecia Harger, Nebe Zekaryas, and the rest of the Black Student Union organized a walkout, rally, and march to spread awareness of the incident, as well as racism in general on school campuses. Early on Thursday morning, students walked out of class and held a rally at the community center on campus where Berkeley Unified School District Superintendent Donald Evans, Principal Pasarow, students, and members of the Black Student Union addressed the crowd.
After the speeches, students began walking off campus through Martin Luther King, Jr. Civic Center Park and headed toward Old City Hall. After hitting Old City Hall, the protesters then marched through the streets and arrived at UC Berkeley, where they chanted "You're the ones who showed us how, UC Berkeley join us now," "Black lives matter," and "No justice, no peace," as they marched through the university's campus.
"Never have I seen something this unified," Berkeley High senior and Black Student Union member Dante Ryan told Berkeleyside. "All the legends of the civil rights movement are looking down on us real proud."
The protesters made more speeches once on the UC Berkeley campus and thanked authorities like Principal Pasarow for supporting the march and the students. Pasarow then raised his fist in solidarity.
"I absolutely support the protests. The leadership the students have shown today is incredible," he told Berkeleyside. "I'm all in favor of the importance of instructional minutes in the classroom, but this learning experience is incredible for the students."
He also promised to hold an all-school assembly on December 9, the date that the racist messages said would include a "public lynching," examining the contributions of the black community.
Shortly before 1 p.m. the protest ended and Berkeley High students made their way back to their school. No arrests or confrontations were reported by police.
Later that night, Pasarow sent out an email informing students and staff that the 15-year-old student responsible for the racist messages had been identified. The student's name will not be released due to student privacy laws, but Berkeley police say the student will be turned over "to juvenile probation for review of charges."
This particular racist incident follows two other incidents over the past year, including a noose left on a tree at the school in October 2014 and an incident earlier this year in June where a message in the yearbook referred to a group of students of color as future "trash collators" (sic).
Despite these incidents, Thursday's walkout and protest was well-attended, peaceful and widely supported by school staff and local school officials. It also ultimately pushed the student responsible for the threats to confess while bringing together many of Berkeley High's students.
More than a thousand high school students in Berkeley, California walked out of class on November 5 in a protest against racist threats left on a school library's computer in support of the Ku Klux Klan and threatening a "public lynching" next month.
"This is an act of domestic terrorism," one student attending the protest told Fusion. "This is terrorism and it should be treated as such."
The controversy began at around 12:30 p.m. on Wednesday when people at Berkeley High School -- a public school located a few blocks away from University of California -- discovered that one of the school library's computers was displaying a page full of racist slurs and threats, including messages like "KKK Forever" and "Public Lynching December 9th 2015."
School district spokesperson Mark Coplan said that no hacking or actual changing of the school library's website was involved. Instead, the messages were part of a displayed image that someone left open on the computer screen. Later that night, Berkeley High School's Black Student Union tweeted a photo of the computer screen for everyone to see and released a statement.
"The perpetrator sympathizes with the racist cause of the KKK and makes a clear threat to lynch black students this December," the statement read. "The terrorists call for the death of all black people in the message. We are disgusted by this act of terror and demand it be investigated as such."
The school's principal, Sam Pasarow, also sent out an email at around 10:30 p.m. on Wednesday night.
"Today in the library, at approximately 12:30 p.m., a hateful and racist message was discovered on one of the library computers, containing threatening language toward African Americans," he wrote in the email. "The administration is looking into who posted this message. This is a hate crime and messages such as this one will not stand in our community."
The next day, Berkeley High students Alecia Harger, Nebe Zekaryas, and the rest of the Black Student Union organized a walkout, rally, and march to spread awareness of the incident, as well as racism in general on school campuses. Early on Thursday morning, students walked out of class and held a rally at the community center on campus where Berkeley Unified School District Superintendent Donald Evans, Principal Pasarow, students, and members of the Black Student Union addressed the crowd.
After the speeches, students began walking off campus through Martin Luther King, Jr. Civic Center Park and headed toward Old City Hall. After hitting Old City Hall, the protesters then marched through the streets and arrived at UC Berkeley, where they chanted "You're the ones who showed us how, UC Berkeley join us now," "Black lives matter," and "No justice, no peace," as they marched through the university's campus.
"Never have I seen something this unified," Berkeley High senior and Black Student Union member Dante Ryan told Berkeleyside. "All the legends of the civil rights movement are looking down on us real proud."
The protesters made more speeches once on the UC Berkeley campus and thanked authorities like Principal Pasarow for supporting the march and the students. Pasarow then raised his fist in solidarity.
"I absolutely support the protests. The leadership the students have shown today is incredible," he told Berkeleyside. "I'm all in favor of the importance of instructional minutes in the classroom, but this learning experience is incredible for the students."
He also promised to hold an all-school assembly on December 9, the date that the racist messages said would include a "public lynching," examining the contributions of the black community.
Shortly before 1 p.m. the protest ended and Berkeley High students made their way back to their school. No arrests or confrontations were reported by police.
Later that night, Pasarow sent out an email informing students and staff that the 15-year-old student responsible for the racist messages had been identified. The student's name will not be released due to student privacy laws, but Berkeley police say the student will be turned over "to juvenile probation for review of charges."
This particular racist incident follows two other incidents over the past year, including a noose left on a tree at the school in October 2014 and an incident earlier this year in June where a message in the yearbook referred to a group of students of color as future "trash collators" (sic).
Despite these incidents, Thursday's walkout and protest was well-attended, peaceful and widely supported by school staff and local school officials. It also ultimately pushed the student responsible for the threats to confess while bringing together many of Berkeley High's students.