In the face of online threats and potential discipline, about 50 Lincoln-Way East High School students walked out of class Wednesday to protest the racist taunting of Homewood-Flossmoor High School community members at recent sports events.
“I was kind of unsure,” Leia Andrews, a junior, said Wednesday. “I thought a lot of people weren’t going to do it.”
More Top Picks Best Weight Benches Under 500 Dollars
Andrews said she struggled to convince some of her classmates that the walkout would make a difference. But after being greeted by a large group of community supporters shouting and waving as the students marched past the field house, Andrews beamed alongside friends Dannedy Sellers and Zainab Iqbal.
“To honk your horn, that shows you’re here supporting (us),” Sellers said.
Lincoln-Way East Principal Toriano Griggs told students’ family members in an email Tuesday that an already present Will County school resource officer would monitor the walkout Wednesday to maintain a safe environment. He warned of potential discipline for student participants, including receiving an unexcused absence.
Griggs encouraged students to reach out to administrators with “strong feelings, concerns and frustrations they want to express.” Some students said they met with administrators before participating in the walkout.
Sellers called the racial taunting of H-F community members by other Lincoln-Way students during a football game Friday “a hate crime” that demonstrates deep-seated racism within her district.
“My brother used to have basketball games against East, and he used to tell me, ‘When you go to East, I will tell you now, it’s not a good school if you are a minority,’” Sellers said. “I know racism is everywhere, but it’s still disgusting to see it from your peers.”
Between the incident at Friday’s football game along with claims of racially charged taunting reported by H-F at a girls cross country race on Saturday, Sellers said she hopes administrators take students’ concerns seriously.
“We feel proud that everyone of every background is here,” she said. “We’re not just Black students who want this. We’re all students who want better.”
H-F board members have expressed outrage over the two incidents, including threatening to take legal action. Frankfort Mayor Keith Ogle released a statement Tuesday expressing dismay over video footage of the racist taunting of H-F fans at the football game but did not comment on the cross country meet incident.
“We fully understand why members of the Homewood-Flossmoor community and others were upset by these actions, and we want to state unequivocally that such behavior is not condoned,” Ogle said, adding “student disciplinary matters fall appropriately under the jurisdiction of school district officials, their families and relevant authorities.”
The Illinois High School Sports Association announced Tuesday it opened an investigation into “unacceptable words and actions directed toward (H-F’s) student-athletes” during the cross country meet.
“Every student-athlete deserves a safe and respectful environment to compete,” the organization stated. “Demeaning words and actions will not be tolerated.”
More Top Picks Bilge Pumps
Student athletes from H-F said they witnessed a Lincoln-Way East coach make comments about running “past those monkeys” to the Lincoln-Way team before the start of the race, according to Tuesday’s news release from H-F District 233. Some team members then began cheering and “making noises that were racist” along with “monkey gestures,” the news release states.
Jen Vujosevic, community relations director for Lincoln-Way District 210, said coaches during the Lyons Township High School cross country meet “merely recounted a well-known story about an area of the Lyons Township course referred to as ‘the jungle.'”
Lincoln-Way continued to condemn the “egregious and intolerable behavior” displayed by five students at Friday’s football game against H-F but said the girls cross country coaching staff and team members were unaware of those events before their race.
The district previously said it cannot name or disclose the disciplinary action taken against students at the football game, but said they were not football players. Vujosevic said Tuesday the district “does not, in any way, condone the actions of those students.”
State Rep. Will Davis, whose daughter is a freshman at H-F, came to support students walking out of Lincoln-Way East Wednesday, raising concerns about District 210’s response. Davis said he’s watching and waiting to see how Lincoln-Way disciplines the students responsible.
“Are they just going to give them a pass and say, ‘Well, you know, they were just kids being kids?’ We’re in a day and age where that just doesn’t cut it.”
The Homewood Democrat said he’s proud of the Lincoln-Way students who showed up to protest racism in their community.
“Those are the young people that we are expecting to be our next generation of leaders, and they’re showing that leadership here today,” Davis said.