Over the past few weeks, San Francisco’s Saint Ignatius Preparatory School has experienced the repercussions and begun the mending process of a controversy created by a few students. On Saturday, Jan. 23, pictures were posted on Snapchat of these students participating in a racist themed “wigger” party held at the Stern Grove along with students from other San Francisco schools. The theme was based on the idea of Caucasians posing as African-Americans. 14 Saint Ignatius (SI) students were suspended when another student presented the evidence to the school dean. Saint Ignatius released a formal letter to students and parents about the occurrence.
In response to the outbreak of the news, the Saint Ignatius administration took an active stance. Administrative staff held an assembly when news reached the hallways to clarify rumors and allow students to have open discussions about the incident. Teachers facilitated class discussions throughout the week. There was also a Friday mass and prayer service held to involve
the community.
Saint Ignatius senior Monica Yuo says, “Overall, I am really proud of how SI has been handling this situation. Unlike the other four or five schools that were there, we’re taking an action and stance on the issue instead of turning a blind eye [to] it. I think the suspension was appropriate because expulsion isn’t the answer to anything — getting rid of the people doesn’t eradicate the problem. The people who were suspended received multiple detentions and a sensitivity training with the Black Student Union.”
Peter*, another Saint Ignatius senior, says, “We had more masses, school assemblies, not focusing on the party itself, but on the issues behind it: the racial tension at SI and [in] the world.”
Yuo was not aware of a lot of racial tension at Saint Ignatius prior to the outbreak on the racist party. Yuo says, “The thing that shocked me the most was the way how some people were defending the party and saying it was a tradition.”
The sentiments of other Saint Ignatius students reveal that a majority of the school does not endorse this kind of behavior.
Yuo says, “Prior to the suspension and Instagram [sic] posts, I had no idea about the party. I was definitely shocked because I thought our school had instilled and taught [us] to do the exact opposite of what happened, but some people decided not to apply what they learned to their daily lives.”
Saint Ignatius senior Emma Matter says, “I couldn’t believe that students not only had the nerve to act so blatantly racist, but to post on social media about it like it was something to be proud of. I had known that racism was an issue here, I just thought that people might have the decency to try to hide it better.”
Students also had a lot to say about suspensions being the chosen form of punishment.
Matter says, “I think a lot of people felt that they should have been expelled, but honestly what good would that have done? They would have just gone off to be racist at some other school. Plus, when they came back I think they experienced something similar to what they had put SI’s students of color through, which seems like poetic justice to me, but I know not everyone sees it that way. After the incident broke out, the community was so outraged, and the kids were being totally demonized. When they came back, I could tell that they didn’t feel totally safe here.”
Class of 2015 Saint Ignatius School alumni Tiffany Nguyen says, “I’ve been super on-the-fence about it. I don’t think that suspension is too harsh, but I think that requiring the students to take a course or something on diversity and equality would actually be more effective than suspending them … But then again, high school students are young and I feel like some of them are not mature enough to fully understand how their actions and words can actually offend another person.”
However, Peter stands behind his view that the controversy is more focused on racial tension than on the suspensions. He says, “Honestly, if you ask anyone at our school, this has little to do with the kids who were suspended. For that whole week and next we practically only discussed and debated all the conflicting viewpoints in our classes.”
He adds, “We can’t walk around the city wearing SI gear without being called racists. Even though we weren’t the only school, we got attention because our students spoke up about it.”
The large amount of students opposed to the theme of the party took this opportunity to generate a big backlash. Students turned to social media to voice their opinions, tracking their discussion and thoughts with the hashtag #ThisIsNotSI.
Matter, who posted using this hashtag, says, “I wanted to post about it because since SI is a majority white school, I wanted my fellow classmates to understand the role that white privilege plays in the issue of racism. A lot of people wanted to condemn the school or the people who went to the party, but I honestly didn’t think that would help anything. I used the hashtag not to denounce the school, but to express that the events that occurred did not reflect SI’s ideals.”
Alumni who heard the news also turned to social media to express their sentiments. Nguyen commented on why she posted, saying, “Equality is something I’m passionate about and I feel that it’s important for people to be aware of occurrences like this to show that the world isn’t as perfect as people would like to see it. And hopefully that will spark discussions and cause people to reflect on their own actions.”
Saint Ignatius is not the only high school in America who has recently faced racist incidents or inequality recently.
Prior to the Saint Ignatius “wigger” party, a similar dispute arose in Pheonix, Arizona, when six girls of the senior class at Desert Vista High school posted a photo on Twitter posed so that their shirts spelled out the racist slur “ni**er.” The girls rearranged themselves after sporting the same letter on their shirt to spell out “best*you*ve*ever*seen*class*of*2016.” Consequently, the girls were also suspended for five days.
On Tuesday, Feb. 23, students at the San Francisco public school, Lowell High School, marched to San Francisco City Hall for a rally to protest discrimination at their school. The object of this protest was the depictions of different black figures with the slogan “HAPPY BLACK HISTORY MONTH #GANG.” The students’ call for change was in response to the aforementioned display as well as various other examples of the racist comments experienced by African American students at school.
Moving forward, students continue to have open discussion about the event that happened and the light that shines on their campus. In regards to the effect of the suspensions on the student body, Peter states, “Change is finally being done. This has been so emotionally charged at our school that isn’t really known to people outside the community. And we’ve had many assemblies to address this, and try to fix the real underlying problem. The media makes the suspensions the highlight when really, there’s so much more going on.”
Matter shares similar feelings, saying, “I think that these events are an opportunity to address a long standing issue, and I think that the attitude change that needs to happen hasn’t happened yet. I hope that it will, but I know not everyone is willing to learn. This is such a controversial issue so I know talking about it scares a lot of people, but so far a lot of people here have stepped up to the challenge. A lot of people have spoken out against racism and spoken in favor of love and compassion, and that gives me hope that this community can become stronger and safer for people of color.”
*Peter’s name has been changed to protect his anonymity
