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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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.
Oh, so you don't know anything about BLS
By adamg
Wed, 01/20/2016 - 9:28am
Yes, there was that one case, years ago. Plenty of regular kids there whose parents aren't lawyers and who didn't send their kids to private school. Hard to believe, but there are parents who believe in public education, to the point of trying to put up with all the barriers BPS puys in their way to get that for their kids.
Adam you've written and voiced
By anon
Wed, 01/20/2016 - 9:43am
Your displeasure with BOSTON residents who send their kids to say Holy Name vs The Irving and then send their kids to exam schools.
Sort of
By adamg
Wed, 01/20/2016 - 11:19am
I admit, as a BPS parent from the start (even back to pre-K if you count a program that, while not part of BPS was located in a BPS school) it's a bit annoying that kids who did not go through BPS suddenly get to try to cherry pick the best school in the city. But in the end, it's their right as Boston residents, and yes, their parents pay taxes to support that school and all - as opposed to those kids we hear about every so often who suddenly become Boston "residents" thanks to an aunt or a rich parent who rents an apartment so they can apply to and go to an exam school even as they really continue to live in some surbur.
You do know that some
By anon
Thu, 01/21/2016 - 8:27pm
You do know that some families do not get into a BPS school and have no choice to send their kids to a private/parochial school, right?
Prove it
By adamg
Thu, 01/21/2016 - 8:52pm
Please show a single example of a kid who really, truly was not placed in any BPS school and was forced to go into a private/religious school. Not a kid whose parents didn't like where he was assigned, but a kid who actually got a letter saying "Nope, no room at the schools for you."
You see Adam, since your kids
By anon
Wed, 01/20/2016 - 10:42am
You see Adam, since your kids are white, and if they scored high enough to get into Boston Latin then it is not due to merit, but white privilege. This is BS. Not all kids who are white or Asian are privileged, as a matter of fact, most are not.
Your concern is touching
By adamg
Wed, 01/20/2016 - 11:21am
It is possible to benefit from a system while still seeing flaws in it.
I'm not concerned for you or
By anon
Wed, 01/20/2016 - 11:35am
I'm not concerned for you or your kids, just voicing support for students who bust their ass to get into good schools.
Like my daughter
By adamg
Wed, 01/20/2016 - 11:55am
No private school in her past, she didn't even take one of those prep courses that are all the rage in some neighborhoods.
You just proved my point.
By anon
Wed, 01/20/2016 - 12:56pm
You just proved my point. Stop apologizing for your kids or any other parents' kids who work extremely hard to excel and get into Boston Latin. Not all kids who get in do so because of privilege: ethnic or financial.
I was not privileged in the
By anon
Wed, 01/20/2016 - 2:31pm
I was not privileged in the sense of $ or a strong family growing up but I was white which means I was and still am privileged. Not as much as a white male but still privileged due to my skin color. And if you are white so are you.
Reminds me of a joke from the old country
By Roman
Thu, 01/21/2016 - 12:31am
At the end of the cold war, a Russian Jew calls up the headquarters of the newly-reconstituted Russian nationalist party, and asks, "is it true that we Jews sold out Mother Russia?"
"Damn right you hook-nosed scum!" comes the reply.
"Oh good," says the Jew. "Where do I pick up my share?"
Oh relax, Adam
By lbb
Wed, 01/20/2016 - 11:20am
I know plenty of "regular kids" who went to Latin. I just have an intense dislike for the nose of that particular elephant, if you get my meaning. I think that an exam school that's part of the Boston public school system should be reserved for products of that same system, not for suburbanites. I don't really care if it's "that one case"; I am firmly opposed to the principle that forms the basis for the decision in "that one case".
Do you know what that one case was about?
By adamg
Wed, 01/20/2016 - 11:23am
Suburbanites had nothing to do with it, so let's not get angry about them. It was a white parent from Hyde Park who sued when his daughter didn't get into BLS. He won.
Following this argument about alleged white suburbanites
By bulgingbuick
Thu, 01/21/2016 - 8:18am
attending BLS and bumping BPS products from seat access I'd like to know if either of these young ladies took advantage of suburban schools through METCO and how many of this group of BLS students attended suburban schools through the METCO program. I believe it would help clarify lbb's point on the negative effect of a kid coming in from Concord Carlyle to bump a kid coming from the Lee, King or McCormick schools.
I'd love to hear about all of
By Lmo
Wed, 01/20/2016 - 12:17pm
I'd love to hear about all of those suburbanites whose parents sued and won them a spot at BLS (or BLA). Any statistics to back that up? If anything, there are plenty of kids who grew up in Boston, but did not attend BPS until they were were able to take exams to attend BLS/BLA.
Really? Kids from parents
By kvn
Wed, 01/20/2016 - 9:55am
Really? Kids from parents right off the boat that have experience with a pick and shovel, get to live in the suburbs first and get a private ( do you really mean Parochial ) education if they are white? They dont have to live in cold water flats and endure? You don't know what you are talking about one bit. You can fool some of the people some of the time, but you cant fool all of the people all of the time.
Reading comprehension, it's your friend!
By lbb
Wed, 01/20/2016 - 11:23am
Uh, no, son. Who said that? Show me.
Oh my. Physician, heal thyself.
Ibb oozes in racism.
By bulgingbuick
Wed, 01/20/2016 - 10:16am
What a sorry, bitter existence.
Neener neener neener
By lbb
Wed, 01/20/2016 - 11:24am
Struck a nerve, did I? Limbot.
Keep digging the hole.
By bulgingbuick
Wed, 01/20/2016 - 1:42pm
A nerve was struck and based on your numerous posts in this thread its yours.
Can you ever resist
By Sally
Wed, 01/20/2016 - 12:37pm
Posting crap about stuff that you clearly know nothing about? Honestly. This. just. isn't. true. It's like some weird part of your own personal mythology about a school you are completely ignorant of. And the irony that you're posting this from a lily white suburb or ex-urb is not lost on us.
Us?
By bulgingbuick
Wed, 01/20/2016 - 2:19pm
Are you the UHub Blog arbiter?
Royal we.
By Sally
Wed, 01/20/2016 - 2:48pm
But sure--I'll arbite. I think enough Uhub readers are familiar enough with the players and topics here to know what I'm talking about.
Swirley's going to be
By bulgingbuick
Wed, 01/20/2016 - 3:19pm
pissed.
An earlier BLS era
By anon
Wed, 01/20/2016 - 9:38am
I must have gone to BLS in some sort of golden age or something. Early 70s, pre-busing. Not only did it seem more integrated than other Boston schools at the time which were overwhelmingly white or overwhelmingly black, but I don't recall race ever being an issue. I couldn't stand the place, but none of that had anything to do with race. Perhaps things got more sensitive with the advent of busing and escalated from there. Though BLS, as a test school, wasn't directly affected by busing. I was there during the all boys era and the beginning of the co-ed era, so I saw both sides of that situation as well.
political correctness
By ANTI POLITICAL ...
Wed, 01/20/2016 - 9:50am
The school is EXTREMELY POLITICALLY CORRECT
These students are extremely sensitive
I am a graduate of BLS
The school is a meritocracy where you get treatest based on how hard you work, not your race
It is time to give up POLITICAL CORRECTNESS for all of our sake.
The administration should not bow down to the altar of POLITICAL CORRECTNESS
In a time of universal deceit - telling the truth is a revolutionary act- George Orwell
Thank you
'14
Truth?
By adamg
Wed, 01/20/2016 - 11:15am
As a BLS parent, I am very grateful this is not your father's BLS. Yes, it's a tough place, but it's no longer a mini "Paper Chase" run by some John Houseman wannabe where kids sink or swim, and I find it cool that these kids see a problem and are trying to do something about it, rather than just keeping their heads down and graduating as some (very intelligent, yes) cogs.
I, too, and a graduate of BLS
By Wally
Thu, 01/28/2016 - 12:46pm
I, too, and a graduate of BLS ('94). I expect better logic and reasoning from a fellow alum, even if they are *ahem*...much younger. This comment makes me wonder what they're teaching you over there now...The population of black students at BLS has dropped by more than half since the admission process was changed in 1997. Perhaps they feel underrepresented and less supported when they look around and see less kids who look like them. Institutional racism throughout the BPS system has funneled white kids into the exam schools at a much higher rate, whether it's by sorting kids into AWCs (primarily white) or allowing kids from private schools to take the tests (mostly white and well-prepared).It doesn't help that BLS has an undercurrent of "sink or swim" that can keep less-prepared kids from succeeding. In Boston, the black population makes up a large percentage of the low-income population. Lower income is correlated with lower academic success. Meaning, in BPS, black students are likely less prepared for academic success, less likely to be channeled into advanced classes, and less likely to make it into an exam school. Once they do make it in, they are surrounded by a school population that looks nothing like them. Incidents like the ones the students are complaining of may happen everywhere, but these kids probably feel somewhat isolated and ignored. Political correctness is not the opposite of racism. If the incidents these students are mentioning are true, it's a problem. It sounds like the school has tried to address some of the issues by being a more supportive environment, but they have also ignored some direct complaints from students. You may feel that asking for a school to address incidents of racism is too politically correct, but perhaps it would help for you to understand the history of the school you attended, and the much larger issues associated with the BPS system in general before you make that assumption.
Did they really say racial epithets are okay?
By Waquiot
Wed, 01/20/2016 - 10:01am
I just watched their video, and there is one thing they said that they should really have thought twice before putting in there.
Are they really griping about students getting reprimanded for using a racial epithet in the hallways between classes? That's what I heard.
No
By aldos
Wed, 01/20/2016 - 10:29am
They are griping about students using a racial epithet in the hallways between classes "without fear of being reprimanded". So, the opposite of what you heard.
So, they want a school
By Waquiot
Wed, 01/20/2016 - 4:09pm
Where the "n-word" is used freely in the hallways?
That's the way I heard it.
Of course, if I heard it wrong, or maybe I heard it right but the tone was off for me, in which case, nevermind. That said, I won't be able to check it until later.
They want a school where the
By Mal
Wed, 01/20/2016 - 10:05pm
They want a school where the N-Word is not used freely in the hallways. They're saying students use the word against people without worrying about getting in trouble.
Upon further review
By Waquiot
Wed, 01/20/2016 - 10:34pm
Aldos is right, I was wrong, which honestly is a very good thing. They in fact are totally uncool with what I thought they were cool with.
Overall, they are trying to start a conversation that should be happening. Of course, it might not necessarily be the conversation they want, but hopefully it will get all of us closer to the place we should be at.
My half-sister attends there.
By Ahab
Wed, 01/20/2016 - 10:27am
My half-sister attends there. There's absolutely no blatant racism. It's always hindering when these kids start watching MSNBC and suddenly want to antagonize something that isn't there. BLS is a melting pot and amazing school.
The type of racism found in
By 2
Wed, 01/20/2016 - 11:16am
The type of racism found in schools, and really in any sort of public place, is in micro aggressions. The examples that these students have provided are exactly that.
Hmm, the student's allegations
By whyaduck
Wed, 01/20/2016 - 12:43pm
are pretty blatant to me. Some indeed might be mico aggressions but these cited seem pretty clear to me. I can't agree that with your comment "the type of racism found in schools, and really in any sort of public place, is in micro aggressions."
But would your half-sister know?
By lbb
Wed, 01/20/2016 - 11:26am
Is your half-sister black? If not, is it possible she's missing some information on how black students at BLS are treated?
Don't you know?
By Scratchie
Wed, 01/20/2016 - 12:00pm
White people are the only reliable arbiters of what's racist anymore (i.e. nothing, except calling white people racist, which is the most racist thing of all).
We're Dominicans, yes. I
By Ahab
Wed, 01/20/2016 - 4:01pm
We're Dominicans, yes. I attended an exam school and everybody was completely aware of everyone's cultures. It's an issue with minority parents and how they raise their kids and how it correlates to their performance in class. Hell, most of my white friends did good since their parents raised them during wedlock and responsibly.
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