Students Rally At San Francisco Lowell High School To Demand Action Against Racist Incidents
SAN FRANCISCO (CBS SF) -- Students at San Francisco's Lowell High School on Friday held a rally to push administrators to confront what they describe as a "breeding ground for racism" at the elite school.
Members of Lowell's Black Student Union along with other student groups say racist incidents have been pervasive for years at the school where less than 2% of the students are Black. Nearly 70% are either Asian American or White, while 12% are Hispanic.
Last month, an online learning session on anti-racism reflections was interrupted with racial slurs and obscene images. School officials believe they came from someone within the district.
"Our trauma has been dismissed, ignored and made fun of. We want change," said Hannah, a BSU member.
"More action needs to be taken against racism at Lowell," said BSU member Gabrielle. "Most of our administration has been at Lowell long enough to know that racism is prominent at Lowell High School … and they should have better responses when racism occurs."
The students called on school administrators to investigate reported incidents of racism and hold students accountable.
In a prepared statement, the Lowell Black Student Union said, "Historically, students have not faced appropriate consequences for their disgusting actions. Lowell has become a breeding ground for racism … It is the administration's responsibility to take immediate, deliberate action to fully investigate who the perpetrators were and remedy this avoidable issue. We cannot hide under our district's progressive label. We must dismantle racism. We must stand with Black students and uplift them to address these issues."
Lowell has been one of few public schools in the country where admissions are merit-based. However, after admissions for the 2021 academic year were changed to a lottery system because of the effects of the pandemic, members of the school board have proposed eliminating the testing-based admissions and keeping the lottery system used by all other public schools in the city.
The proposal is up for a vote on Feb. 9.
