Racism in Whitney Young

Kayla Bilal

In the past few weeks, videos (both old and new) have been circulating throughout Whitney Young’s halls. Unfortunately, they all share one common theme: racism. Not only that, but antisemitism as well. One video involved a student saying the N-word repeatedly while the other involved a giant swastika being held up during what seems like a Facetime call. Both attacked a minority in some shape or form, whether it was malicious intent or not. Although the administration has their own views on the situation, the current students of Whitney Young and alumni have not been as receptive to the content that they’ve seen. Ella McCarthy ‘18 states that, “people at Whitney need to be held accountable for their actions.” In her eyes, more things need to be done as to prevent these situations from happening again. Many other people agree with this statement including Anonymous ‘19 who also says that, “it’s somewhat surprising who we find in the school that don’t claim to be racist but somehow end up enabling their racist friends.” It seems that everyone has come to the conclusion, that the content that has been released is not okay. Jada Middleton ‘21 explains that she, “can’t believe how terrible the videos actually are.” Situations like these have occurred almost every year that I have been at Whitney Young. And while minorities have to somehow learn to deal with each situation and continue to forgive, repercussions are barely given to the offender.