Those logging into Decatur’s virtual school board meeting Tuesday night, were immediately greeted by an anonymous sentence typed in the accompanying chat box saying, “I hate (racial slur).”
As the faces of board members—two of whom are Black —popped up on the screen the epithet remained clearly visible for several minutes in the upper right hand corner. Although their voices were muted several were visibly shaken.
With little explanation Superintendent David Dude announced he was switching the meeting to a different URL. After which the event proceeded by following the stated agenda and with no immediate mention of the racist statement that was now no longer visible.
The meeting was a big one, with the anticipated announcement later on of school opening plans. Over 600 people logged in, or about three times more than what the central office meeting room would hold during an in-person event.
Then about 45 minutes in Dude halted the dialogue saying, “I’m sorry, I’m having trouble focusing. When we started I was told there was a vulgar, vile, hurtful message in the comment section. I’ve since been told what it said, and it’s difficult for me keep paying attention. I am absolutely disgusted.”
This appears a resumption of events that took place last spring after the school buildings were closed on March 13. For weeks city residents white and Black were enraged over a series of racist videos posted by Decatur High students in April and May.
The most incendiary was a five-second clip showing the son of a longtime Decatur High administrator holding what appears to be a toy gun. Although this student is a rising 11th grader, the video may have been shot when he was in the eighth grade and was posted only recently by other students. In the clip he says he uses the gun to kill Black people, utters a racial slur and imitates the sound of three gunshots.
“This is about the fourth time [in recent weeks] we’ve experienced the N-word,” said Board Member Jana Johnson-Davis, also a co-founder (along with her husband, Civil Rights Attorney Mawuli Davis) of The Beacon Hill Black Alliance for Human Rights. “Then last week someone removed ‘Black’ from the Black Lives Matter sign on the Renfroe [Middle School] marquee. I keep thinking at some point I’ll become numb to these terrible incidents.”
Board Member Tasha White, who’s also Black, added, “I wish I could live long enough to become numb to this stuff.
“I don’t want to give energy to racist and vulgar comments like this,” she added, “but it’s too close, too important not to take it personally. It’s like we are dealing with two pandemics, the pandemic of COVID and the pandemic of racism.”
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