The Social Action Club I co-sponsored at Stagg High School conducted a survey to learn about students’ experiences with what they defined as “offensive language related to student identity.” The handwritten responses we received were heartbreaking.
One scrawled-in-blue note read: “A teacher told me that it’s OK for me to go outside and run the mile when it was 90 degrees because I’m from the desert. I was born here.” Another, written in cheerful pink highlighter and bubbly lettering, read: “Every day these two girls walk by my lunch table to make comments about my hijab and call me a terrorist.” And then there was this note, printed in pencil: “I hate how much people use the N-word. It’s not OK.”
After sharing student responses with administrators and learning there was no policy in the school handbook addressing incidents of racial harassment like these, our club members decided to do what they could themselves. They spoke to administrators, teachers and the entire school community about ending offensive, racially insensitive language and behavior to create an environment where all students felt accepted and valued. We called it our Upstander campaign, and staff and students alike reached out to share stories of its impact on their thoughts, actions and responses to others.
That was six years ago, and by now all of the students impacted by that Upstander campaign have graduated. This year I found myself at another Social Action Club meeting, where once again students were discussing how to stop incidents of racial harassment. Students shared how adults they counted on to protect them downplayed racist incidents and chalked them up to “typical high school bullying.” I realized just how little had truly or sustainably changed.
The Racism Free Schools Act is the systemic change we need. Our district, like most school districts in Illinois, doesn’t have a specific racial harassment policy, causing it to be lumped into existing categories like bullying. The proposed legislation would ensure all schools in Illinois adopt and regularly communicate policies that clearly define acts of racial harassment, outline victim-centered processes for reporting incidents of racism and provide clear steps to both prevent and respond effectively to racism in schools.
If passed, the Racism-Free Schools Act would ensure that students, teachers and school officials are all protected by a clear and common understanding of what racial harassment is. Victims who come forward can trust that they will be safe and the harassment they experienced will end.
The kinds of stories my students shared are all too common in schools today. Students of color still experience more than five racist incidents a day, and federal reports of hate crimes related to race have almost doubled. While my students succeeded in changing individual minds and behaviors, these recurring stories prove that addressing racism in schools requires changing systems.
It shouldn’t take more years, more surveys or even one more racist incident for schools to adopt clear policies to address racism more justly. Students across Illinois are looking to administrators and policymakers to make schools the safe, supportive places they should be for everyone. Passing the Racism-Free Schools Act is a vital step toward the sustainable, systemic change our students deserve.
Lisa Thyer teaches English at Amos Alonzo Stagg High School in Palos Hills. She is a 2021-2022 Teach Plus Illinois Senior Policy Fellow.
