Charlottesville High School students stage walkout for Black equality

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Charlottesville High School Students Stage Walkout For Equality

The kids in Charlottesville, Virginia have been through a lot over the past 2 years, but they will not allow violent racists to put fear in their heart.

According to The Washington Post, the school’s Black Student Union organized the walkout that 130 students participated in (21 from neighboring Buford Middle School) after a hate crime threat shut down schools in the area last Monday. Union president Zyahna Bryant, a senior, said that rather than focus on the single threat, something that might give the terrorist the type of attention he craves, they chose to focus on the systematic inequities and white supremacy that persist in the Charlottesville’s school system.

“There cannot be any type of reconciliation without the redistribution of resources for black and brown students,” Bryant said.

Oh, this sista is talkin’ that TALK. Not only did the students address the problems, the provided some solutions.

The students issued 10 demands that included calls for leaders in the 4,300-student school system to denounce racism against black and brown students, hire more black teachers and overhaul student discipline policies.

Racist violence aside, there are some very disturbing stats that have led these students to feel that they are not valued by their schools.

A 2018 study from the Legal Aid Justice Center found that 7.4 percent of black students in Charlottesville were placed on short-term suspension in the 2016-2017 school year, compared with 1.3 percent of white students.

Althea Laughon-Worrell, 18, said black students, unlike white students at the high school, are not encouraged to take more challenging classes, resulting in segregated classrooms.

“We are continuing this narrative that black and brown students aren’t as smart as white students,” said Laughon-Worrell, a senior.

Shoutout to the Black Student Union