When Prospect High School Principal John Ashenfelter called an assembly of students Wednesday, he had no doubt what he wanted to accomplish: ease racial tensions in the school and encourage an atmosphere of respect among the students.
And just as important, he wanted to make it clear what would not be tolerated.
But by the time all was said and done, many of the school`s 1,600 students found themselves at the very place from which Ashenfelter had tried to lead them-at each other`s throats. And the words some of them used in anger were the very words the principal so dearly wanted to quiet in his hallways.
At a gathering of the seniors, classmates shouted at one another and cursed. Others had to be physically restrained, and some left the assembly in disgust. Still others wept in the corridors, frightened and saddened by what they had seen.
It was a bitter moment amid a series of such moments in recent days at the Mt. Prospect high school. And it left everyone in the room, along with parents and teachers who only heard of what was going on, wondering how this could happen.
And asking, is it just a few stupid kids or does it go deeper?
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”We`ve got a problem,” acknowledged Ashenfelter. ”I`m angry. I`m frustrated. And I`m sad, because racism has not been a part of this school.” Tensions erupted Friday when several white students showed up at school dressed head-to-toe in white. It came on the heels of a class speech a student gave on the Ku Klux Klan, and school officials, although hoping it was an isolated, ignorant prank, ordered the students to change clothing or leave the school. And the students complied.
But before the day was over, 25 students had left the campus either disgusted at what was going on or fearful for their safety. One black student found an anonymous note at his desk: ”KKK Have A Nice Day.”
Then, on Monday, a fight broke out between a Hispanic student and a white student who had quarreled over the earlier incident. And on Tuesday four minority students were confronted by a large group of whites who hurled racial slurs at them, and another fight started. A third fight broke out Wednesday between a white and an Asian-American student. In all, eight students have been suspended.
Starting Thursday, the school is hiring two off-duty police officers to patrol its corridors and asking more teachers to walk the hallways, too. Their first test could come Friday, when some students are threatening to wear all- white again.
Yet the bigger questions facing the school are: What underlies the racial tensions? How widespread are they? And what can be done to cure the situation? Eleven black students and the parents of five of the teenagers met Wednesday with school officials, including Ashenfelter, to discuss the incidents, the safety of their children and possible solutions to the racial divisions. School officials were also inundated with calls from parents Tuesday and Wednesday.
”My children`s lives, as far as I`m concerned, are at risk. I do not like that feeling,” said Christopher Cook, father of Prospect students Christopher Cook II, 15, and Tajuanna Davis, 17.
”I want somebody arrested. . . . I want something done.”
Beginning Thursday, counselors will be brought in to speak with students and gauge the atmosphere in the school. Further, administrators are considering plans for students discussion groups, which could possibly air problems, and a class that would emphasize racial tolerance.
Evonne Williams, a 15-year-old black sophomore, said she has received rather frosty responses from black friends, who have now begun to question some of her white acquaintances, and conflicting messages from her white classmates, who are trying to find out where she stands.
On Wednesday Williams told a white male she ”didn`t know if (she) was a member of the `We` or the `They.` ”
”I`m actually surprised that people are doing this,” said Melanie Latta, 16, of Mt. Prospect: ”I personally think the blacks are right” in saying they don`t want to be hassled by white kids.
”A lot of my friends feel the same way,” she said.
Latta, a sophomore, said she knew at least five or six of the students who dressed in white last Friday. ”They knew exactly what they were doing,” she said.
Matt Train, a 15-year-old freshman, thought ”the school has a very good reputation, and the public is going to get the wrong impression about what Prospect High School is about.”
”It`s cruel,” said a 15-year-old freshman who didn`t want to be identified. ”I think it`s really unfair what they`re doing to the blacks. That stuff about the Ku Klux Klan was over a long time ago.”
Aquandra Nabors, 18, an African-American senior, said she has been a victim of racial harassment at the school. ”I think it`s a lot of crap,” she said. ”I`ve been here three years, and now all of a sudden they want to celebrate the Ku Klux Klan.”
Experts point to myriad causes for such racial tensions in similar incidents across the country at high schools and colleges, including lack of parental guidance. But many say one of the most prominent reasons is the changing makeup of the once mostly white suburban landscape.
Numbers from the 1990 census illustrate the changes in the northwest suburbs.
While whites still make up 88 percent of the area`s population, the number of minorities has nearly doubled in the last decade. Asians and Hispanics each make up 5 percent of the population, and blacks constitute 1 percent. American Indians and other groups account for the other 1 percent.
The student body at Prospect High School is less than 1 percent black, about 3 percent Hispanic, and nearly 6 percent Asian, according to school officials. Fourteen black students registered to attend the school this year. Pamela Lewis, president of the Far Northwest Suburban Chapter of the NAACP, blamed racial tensions in the suburbs on ”a lack of understanding of cultures.”
”These areas have been segregated for so long, when these new groups come in, they have very little cultural awareness to help them get settled,” she said.
Lewis said she moved to the northwest suburbs nine years ago. Since then, she said, she`s heard of problems at the schools, ranging from name calling to insensitivity surrounding certain historical events. ”Everyone feels the racism,” Lewis said. ”But it`s even worse for the young people. The stereotypes are very strong.”
School and village officials are hoping that the incidents are the result of a few individuals and not an undercurrent at the school, where racial incidents, according to administrators, are a rarity.
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Mt. Prospect Mayor Gerald Farley expressed similar hopes, but warned that the village would consider criminal charges against individuals engaged in such behavior. ”I hope it`s just a dumb stunt by some kids on a lark,” he said. ”I`ve never encountered anything like this before.
”It`s a very serious matter. I can`t believe it`s happening in Mt. Prospect. And it`s not going to be tolerated.”