HEUVELTON, New York (WWNY) – It doesn’t matter if it’s said right to you or not – students say racial slurs hurt. And the jokes. And the innuendo.
“Just because you don’t say it to me doesn’t mean I don’t feel it,” said Heuvelton 11th grader Maia Chisholm. “It doesn’t mean it doesn’t hurt me. It doesn’t mean it doesn’t hurt everybody.”
Saturday, Maia Chisholm marched against racism with about 50 others in Heuvelton. It was an event sparked by a social media post that quickly garnered widespread outrage earlier in the week.
The post showed some students choreographing a slang version of the N-word with their bodies on the school’s gym floor.
Students say it’s not the only example of racist language at Heuvelton.
“Sometimes I can’t even go a day without being called the N-word, or just like something, said to me,” said Heuvelton 7th grader Mikaylah Chisholm.
They say more has to be done to stop racism. School superintendent Jesse Coburn has said five students in all took part in the N-word incident. He said they’ve been disciplined.
At a Heuvelton school board meeting earlier this week, parents and students recited incidents of racial bullying going back years at these schools. Students say there was also a sit-in staged in a school lobby. It became a kind of teach-in on racism.
But not everyone agrees the act was a horrible one.
Hammond 11th grader Shae Scott said she often hears excuses for racism.
“Their excuse is that they’re children. But when you’re old enough to know the difference between right and wrong, then you shouldn’t be doing that behavior,” Scott said.
But they say there may be hope. At least a glimmer.
“I think that people are learning that we are real people. And that we have real feelings. And that the things they say they hurt people. And that we’re hurt and that we’re upset. And that we’re tired,” Maia Chisholm said.
In a letter to parents superintendent Coburn said the incident shows there is a pressing need to talk about race constructively. It said the school will work to find ways to do that.
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