Black students at Boston Latin School have started a campaign against the racism they say persists at the nation's oldest public school.
In a YouTube video, organizers Kylie Webster Cazeau and Meggie Noel pointed to examples that range from the annoying to the infuriating - and urge other students to post examples under the hashtag #blackatbls:
"When you're the only black student in your AP US history course and when slavery comes up, they all turn to you," Cazeau says. She continues that when she collected "racial slurs and negative things about students of color" tweeted by white BLS students and printed them out and gave that to BLS Headmaster Lynne Mooney Teta, she did "nothing about it."
Responding - on Twitter - to the campaign, Mooney Teta writes:
Thank you #BLACKatBLS for bringing your concerns forward. Eager to work together to create a better BLS climate for all.
Some other examples cited by students on Twitter:
That one time I had to do in house suspension for cutting school because a Teacher saw a black girl exiting the bldg #ItWasntMe
"Can you come to Westie to work on the group project cause my mom said I'm not allowed in Dorchester"
"I don't know how to describe you, you speak too white to be ghetto"
When your people's history is completely disregarded
when people tell you you'll get into college only because you're black
when your teacher calls you the name of three different black girls in the grade cause y'all "look exactly alike"
When your peers are shocked at your success because they've let stereotypes define our degree of intelligence
When POC are the majority at every other BPS high school except for the one with the most opportunity
When you can't even have a hashtag voicing your experiences without white people somehow taking offense
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Comments
#Iamseriousandstopcallingmeshirly
By Pete Nice
Wed, 01/20/2016 - 8:54am
#nt
"Looks like I picked the
By anon
Wed, 01/20/2016 - 9:36am
"Looks like I picked the wrong week to quit sniffing glue!"
I guess I'm getting old too, because
By peter
Wed, 01/20/2016 - 12:48pm
I get annoyed when people use "old" to imply "fuddy duddy stick in the mud refusing to acknowledge anything invented after they got their first gray hair" *especially when it appears calculated to be dismissive of an underrepresented group's message*
I'm old too. Other old people may remember a time not that long ago when previous curmudgeons were lamenting how they couldn't take anything seriously if it was reported on a computer screen :) And yet, here we all are, commenting on a web based news site. (And before that monks were complaining about printing presses, and before that Socrates was complaining about the popularity of writing.)
Why do older folks on this
By 2
Wed, 01/20/2016 - 1:00pm
Why do older folks on this site so proudly broadcast their refusal to accept present and future social technologies, especially when said technology is tied to teenagers aka the future of our world?
These students are using a technology that is tied to our socio-global networks, which allow them to easily share with a broader base how the atmosphere in their school negatively affects them. That hashtag will also allow for their classmates and alumni to chime in with their own experiences at BLS. Yet, you think that it's funny to dismiss this fact, announce about how narrow-minded you are because you think their message shouldn't be taken seriously because of a hashtag, all while throwing in an unspoken, 'Kids these days!'
KiK and Yik-Yak is slightly ahead for me as they are for the HS and current college crowd, but I don't find cause to dismiss it because it doesn't disseminate information the way I've always been taught to (which is changing every day).
That closed-off way of thinking doesn't look favorably on you.
But...
By anon
Wed, 01/20/2016 - 8:32am
Students of color are a majority at BLS--52.7% (http://profiles.doe.mass.edu/profiles/student.aspx...)
Maybe they don't think Asians count as non-white.
Yes, but ...
By adamg
Wed, 01/20/2016 - 9:06am
Since you seem to have ready access to the stats, compare the number of black (and Hispanic) kids at BLS with the numbers in the rest of BPS.
Statistics are a funny thing
By Waquiot
Wed, 01/20/2016 - 9:20am
Compared to BPS as a whole, yes, Latin is whiter, but compare Latin to the average for high schools across the Commonwealth and it is very diverse.
That said, the movement has nothing to do with being a "minority" at Latin. It has to do with being black, which is a bit different than being Asian at Latin. Sure, send these kids to Concord-Carlisle and they will get this shit, but all their classmates are Bostonians, so we should be doing a better job in getting along.
I'm usually thin skinned to cries to racism, but their gripes seem reasonable.
Maybe
By Roman
Wed, 01/20/2016 - 11:35pm
but all's I know is that back in the day, lily-white me in a lily-white suburban high school got detention for something I didn't do that had more to do with the teacher being an ass than with racism.
Maybe Boston has equal opportunity asses, too?
I also remember the whole class turning to me when Soviet Russia came up in history class, and I don't recall being nearly as worked up about it as this young woman seems to be.
Maybe it's just instinct and the class didn't mean anything nasty by it?
Or it's Racism!(TM), the one, the only, the cause of, and solution to, all of life's problems.
Are you saying
By anon
Wed, 01/20/2016 - 9:23am
A multiple choice exam is racist?
Whats racist the multiple choice format or the Scantron? I bet its those racist Scantrons.
Nope
By adamg
Wed, 01/20/2016 - 9:34am
I'm not saying the ISEE is racist, as opposed to past standardized tests.
I am saying that BLS is whiter and, um, East Asianer than BPS as a whole, by a significant margin. And I will say there are reasons for that that go beyond a simple standardized test.
So are you saying East Asian
By anon
Wed, 01/20/2016 - 9:51am
So are you saying East Asian students and their parents are racists? I don't understand. What are you implying, but not saying? I went to a public school which didn't even offer AP classes let alone have the money to always heat the building in the winter, so I'm not acquainted with elite exam school
speak.
You're not really that dense, are you?
By adamg
Wed, 01/20/2016 - 11:44am
No, I'm not saying East Asian parents are any more racist than the white parents with kids at BLS. That doesn't negate the issue of that there are fewer blacks and Hispanics at BLS than at other BPS schools. The reasons behind that statistic are many and longstanding and obviously not easily fixed, but just ignoring them doesn't make them go away or absolve us (excluding, of course, many of the anons here who obviously don't care) from wondering if something could be done about them.
not again...
By bibliotequetress
Wed, 01/20/2016 - 7:25pm
Before you post again, anon, look here so you don't write something stupid.
[url=https://flic.kr/p/CMi3nT][img]https://farm2.static... Flickr
No doubt.
By Sally
Wed, 01/20/2016 - 12:26pm
And yet I wish that these young women, with their tremendous energy and intelligence, were tackling broader issues of why that is rather than just carp about this or that slight. Trust me--I have years of BLS stories about racial and ethnic issues, from grouchy old white teachers and cosseted Westie kids not wanting to go to xyz, not to mention threats and fights and name-calling between Southie kids and black kids, bullying of Jewish kids...honestly it goes on and on. But I guess I'd rather see more people figure out how we get BLS to look more like the rest of the BPS. I've written here before about my kid's incredibly diverse elementary classes which then split in 4th grade--most white kids, Asian kids, many new immigrant kids of all shades, went to AWC, while the "regular Ed" classes were majority American-born black kids and Hispanic kids. The black and Hispanic kids who were in AWC faced innumerable hurdles in my observation, from parental and economic issues but also with a lot of negative peer pressure along the "you think you're white" variety. And those classes--private and parochial schools aside--are the main feeder for the exam schools. I just wish that we could start tackling this split then, when kids are eight, not eighteen.
Rewind, reverse that
By Sock_Puppet
Wed, 01/20/2016 - 12:38pm
I guess I'd rather see more people figure out how we get the rest of BPS to look more like BLS.
I think you are missing the point, Sally.
By whyaduck
Wed, 01/20/2016 - 12:40pm
Yes, all well and good. But these students have specific and apparently documented concerns. And what is more broader (as well as important) that tackling the issue of racism in any way, shape or form? I applaud them at such a young age to do so. And if the headmaster "poo-pooed" their concerns, than shame on her.
How on earth do you start monitoring Twitter?
By Sally
Wed, 01/20/2016 - 1:04pm
I'm all for addressing current issues at the school but I honestly can't imagine that BLS administrators have the wherewithal to get involved with student scraps on Twitter unless there are actual threats or really egregious examples of racist language or behavior. And sorry, but how do you start tackling issues of racism at the school if the incidents are on the scale of "everyone looks at you" when slavery is discussed? Call me crazy--I'm still more bothered by the notion that there's only one black student in the AP History class.
Not to mention
By bosguy22
Wed, 01/20/2016 - 2:46pm
How does the school prove a student is the author of a specific twitter account. I could start @SallyonUhub and say all kinds of nasty things.
not as hard as you may think
By bibliotequetress
Wed, 01/20/2016 - 7:36pm
Most students aren't on snapchat, twitter, et cetera, anonymously. They may have a pseudonym-- as I do-- but that's different from actual anonymity. For example, BLS Wolfpack has fewer than 500 followers on twitter. If 20 people who know each other are tweeting or tagging during a game all of them are attending, they'll figure out who's who.
Making this all easier is that most of the students I know incorporate their name or a distinctive identifying feature into their handle.
Yes, people can start anon accounts to troll, but that doesn't seem to be the case here.
What are the total city stats though?
By anon
Wed, 01/20/2016 - 10:15am
How do the demographics of the general Boston population of high school kids compare to BLS and BPS? I have always assumed the percentage of white kids is less than at BLS but higher of course than BPS as there is a lot of parochial/private school opt out by white middle class families. But is that true?
BTW, this is not to say these black kids aren't right to bring up their issues with the school. I just hate the zero sum approach of some people that because lots of white families opt out of BPS k-8 that means it's problematic that they opt into exam schools.
Close
By Sock_Puppet
Wed, 01/20/2016 - 10:28am
The demographics of the exam schools are much closer to those of the city as a whole.
It's the other schools that fail to represent the city demographics.
The problem isn't at BLS. Trying to make it equally broken as the rest of the system is a fool's errand.
This is the hashtag generation.
By bulgingbuick
Wed, 01/20/2016 - 8:50am
With education and some life experience where will you be and what will you do to give back in 10 years? The city will need you and you will have a lot to offer. By then you'll be cringing at your hash tag phase because your parents will be on twitter.
By then...
By lbb
Wed, 01/20/2016 - 9:16am
By then no one will be using Twitter except crotchety old farts like you.
and you still won't have a
By bulgingbuick
Wed, 01/20/2016 - 9:46am
job.
It's okay not to understand.
By chaosjake
Wed, 01/20/2016 - 3:37pm
Saying this:
Just demonstrates that you profoundly misunderstand how hashtags can be used on social media.
I'll let CUNY journalism professor Jeff Jarvis explain:
Rather than relying on the Boston Globe (or even our humble Universal Hub) to report on their concerns, these students are able to use a hashtag to organize around a topic and get recognition for what they see as an overlooked problem.
Dismissing hashtags as a youthful phase ignores the extreme democratization of media and the voice that social platforms like Twitter and Facebook have given people around the world. From #blacklivesmatter to #egypt and #jan25, the past few years have proved that the hashtag can do anything from changing traditional media narratives to sparking revolutions.
(edited: typos)
#stupid
By bulgingbuick
Wed, 01/20/2016 - 2:03pm
Your self absorbed generation can't see the World around them because they are staring at an oxymoron device called a smartphone. Citing a CUNY professor is supposed to bring weight to your argument? Those that can do those that can't teach journalism at CUNY.
Um, zing?
By Scratchie
Wed, 01/20/2016 - 1:39pm
Um, zing?
By the way...
By chaosjake
Wed, 01/20/2016 - 2:58pm
My self absorbed generation is mostly made up of parents and teachers of the generation currently in high school. I'll be sure to keep off your lawn, though, old man.
Huh.
By erik g
Wed, 01/20/2016 - 2:59pm
You're not making it easy to pick a side in the great "Is bulgingbuick a collective piece of performance art by the Berkeley Theater Department, or is he is he an unhinged white guy in Weston?" debate this week.
I'm a bike riding hipster
By bulgingbuick
Wed, 01/20/2016 - 3:17pm
from Somerville..
I feel sorry for this student
By anon
Wed, 01/20/2016 - 8:57am
I feel sorry for this student. However, I feel more sorry for BPS students who suffer stereotyping, whether it be based on skin color, religion, sexual orientation, etc., and they are at a school which is severely underfunded, they have to deal with daily violence in the classroom and are not getting a top-notch education. Stereotyping benefits no one and it works both ways.
It works both ways? Really?
By lbb
Wed, 01/20/2016 - 9:23am
I think you meant to say, "All people stereotype others." That's true, but not all stereotypes are equally powerful or damaging. There's an essay floating around out there that makes this point with four men applying for the same job: one black, one Mexican-American, one Arab-American and one white. The black guy is stereotyped as lazy/incompetent, the Mexican-American is stereotyped as an illegal immigrant, the Arab-American is stereotyped as a terrorist, and the white guy is stereotyped as liking football. It's pretty hard to find any stereotypes that are widely applied to white people as a group, and it's even harder to find a stereotype of white people as such that's damaging or limiting to them or their lives and opportunities.
Kids of ALL races and ALL
By anon
Wed, 01/20/2016 - 10:11am
Kids of ALL races and ALL backgrounds are committing acts of racism and stereotyping and are being subjected to acts of racism and stereotyping. Do you disagree? What, when Latino kids or Arab kids are subjected to stereotyping by Black or White kids it doesn't count because they're not Black? That makes NO sense. We're talking about kids here. Do Asian kids not get to have a say because it's assumed they are smart? That makes no damn sense. Would you say that Black kids who get made fun of by other Black kids becuase they have mixed race parents aren't being subjected to a form of racism because it's Black on Black stereotyping? Who are YOU to judge? Give kids a chance to grow up before you make so many iron-clad judgements against them! It's already hard enough growing up in a city!
White privilege
By anon
Wed, 01/20/2016 - 10:37am
The idea of white privilege, or whites getting ahead simply based on their skin color and not actually having to apply themselves, applies to whites as a group. It may not be inherently as damaging as the others described but it still exists and casts a broad brush that whites will get what they want every time and use no intelligence or experience to get ahead.
The same brush is used when saying blacks only get into college because they are black.
Why is one ok and not the other? (Right, neither are)
So yes, it works both ways.
The difference is ...
By adamg
Wed, 01/20/2016 - 11:26am
White privilege exists, while blacks, even with affirmative action, as a group do not really gain any benefits simply from the color of their skin.
Sorry bud
By anon
Wed, 01/20/2016 - 11:37am
Despite white your bleeding heart is telling you, it's actually quite the opposite. Only one of the two equally qualified candidates can sue for being turned down for a job, and it sure as hell isn't the white one.
Ha, that's a good one, bud
By adamg
Wed, 01/20/2016 - 11:48am
Really, whites can't sue for something? They sue for everything! All the time. Even when it comes to affirmative action
Too funy
By anon
Wed, 01/20/2016 - 11:54am
That's one case that's going to be laughed out of the court, against countless millions of claims that "we didn't get the job," "we didn't get promoted," "we were fired" because, well, you know.
leaving aside the actual message and substance of your words.
By Padhraic
Wed, 01/20/2016 - 2:17pm
lets look at the math you just dropped on us, the reader. So the demographic ratio of plaintiffs in employment related lawsuits is 1(who is going to be laughed out of court) white human being to millions (others suing because of well "you know"). So 1: 1000000, I know you said countless millions because you added a slight layer of anecdotal feeling to your rock solid base numbers so I figured I'd stick to 1 million other.
So in a country of just about 320 million people , where about 198 million of them are white. Your gut tells you and you just KNOW that the ratio of employment lawsuits filed by white people vs the nebulous other is at least 1:1000000? That's the common sense truth you are espousing?
I know i'm using general population numbers here but I have some anecdotal not scientific data ( you might call it GUINTUITION, or GUT + INTUITION. Though I have a suspicion mine might differ from yours. I work in Finance, i manage discovery for litigation. The demographics of HR lawsuits is about 99.999999 white to .00000001 other. I only have personal knowledge of a few thousand lawsuits so it'll take more research to prove what anon(unverified) and everyone else already knows.
While you are entitled to
By anon
Wed, 01/20/2016 - 12:26pm
While you are entitled to feel that white privilege exists, I wholeheartedly disagree, and to rebut your statement, affirmative action is exactly how blacks and other groups gain benefits based on their skin color.
Excluding one race in favor of another is wrong, no matter what fancy term you use to describe it or what justification you use to make it seem right.
If I remember correctly, everyone takes the same exam to get in, as I did many years ago. I don't remember checking the box that said "white privilege" and moving to the head of the line. I do however, remember having classmates of all different races who were intelligent, gained entrance based on their merit, and had a ton of great things to add to our class.
What about
By bosguy22
Wed, 01/20/2016 - 11:28am
The stereotype that "white people" (I found it a bit racist that you lumped all of those with white skin as the same "ethnicity") are more racist than others. What would happen if those 4 people applied for a job at a black-owned business? A Mexican-american owned?
BOB and a lot of POC-Owned
By Kenneth Johnson
Wed, 01/20/2016 - 12:31pm
BOB and a lot of POC-Owned Business are in parts of towns you hardly step foot in, besides being a thing that I'm sure you've never walked into and said this must be a BOB. There's not enough BOB's to make that a valid example.
(I found it a bit racist that
By Scratchie
Wed, 01/20/2016 - 1:40pm
Whoa. I can see how upsetting that must have been. You better go have a lie-down. Good for you for being strong enough to talk about it.
Well,
By bosguy22
Wed, 01/20/2016 - 2:47pm
I really would have appreciated a trigger warning, but I think I'm going to be ok. Made it to my safe space just in time.
lbb you are a one man
By bulgingbuick
Wed, 01/20/2016 - 3:23pm
commercial for the likes of Donald Trump.
Just found a widely held example for you.....
By me
Wed, 01/20/2016 - 6:31pm
The entire attempt to create a phenomenon of "White Privilege" is stereotyping. While I agree that overall, there are more societal benefits which accrue to many white people merely due to their color, I also recognize that there are tens of millions of multigenerationally poor and undereducated whites who don't feel very privileged. ( And lots of them are supporting Trump and Cruz). And just because you say they are privileged doesn't make it so.
"...they all turn to you..."
By TGR
Wed, 01/20/2016 - 9:02am
"all" is a big generalization
Do you know that it's not true?
By lbb
Wed, 01/20/2016 - 9:17am
If all the non-black students in a class do, in fact, turn to you whenever anything pertaining to black people/history/whatever is raised, is it still a generalization? Of any size?
When POC are the majority at
By kvn
Wed, 01/20/2016 - 9:19am
Isn't it still an exam school? Sheesh!
Sort of
By lbb
Wed, 01/20/2016 - 9:24am
It is an exam school that rich white private-school-educated suburbanites can buy or bully their way into with lawsuits from their lawyer daddies.
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