The St. Louis County NAACP is set to host a second town hall meeting for Ladue schools about racial tension within the district that’s recently made headlines across the region.
“I know that the recent events have drawn attention to the high school, but it is going on at the middle and the elementary school,” a mother of eight-year-old and 13-year-old Ladue students said at the NAACP first town hall meeting.
Following the November presidential election, a string of racial incidents occurred at Ladue Horton Watkins High School, including a group of white students chanting “Trump, Trump, Trump” toward black students on a school bus. Tajah Walker, 15, who was targeted in the incident and vocal about the inequities she and other black students experience at the high school said one white male student suggested all the black students “sit in the back of the bus.”
Two students did receive suspension for the incident along with another form of discipline. A district official told The American, she could not divulge the disciplinary measure. In response to one of the student offender’s short-lived suspension, dozens of students –mostly black — participated in a school walkout to protest racial discrimination at the school.
“We have a lot of work to do,” John Gaskin III, NAACP National Board member and Ladue High alumnus, told The American. Gaskin, who spoke with administrators almost immediately after the incident said the most troubling thing to him is wondering if the if the racial incidents would have been swept under the rug had the NAACP not become involved.
“We are grateful for the NAACP’s immediate and proactive response to assisting our district,” Superintendent Dr. Donna Jahnke said in a press release. “After recent incidents, our community needs time to have constructive conversation and begin to heal. While this is just one of the ways we are pursuing that process, it is a vital and important one.”
During the first town hall event, which was held the evening before Thanksgiving, hundreds gathered inside Ladue’s ethical society building to express concern about the district’s racial disparities.
One Ladue parent called the racial incident a “Trump effect,” saying now that Trump is president-elect, people are more emboldened to project racism. Racist incidents have indeed spiked across the country since Trump’s November win, including a viral video of a white nationalist conference in Washington, D.C., showing attendees giving nazi salutes while saying “hail Trump.”
Despite the increase in racist backlash across the country, one speaker at the town hall insisted people not blame Trump and to be careful about how they approach the subject, because it may offend others. The woman also said racism is only part of the problem in the Ladue school district and that character has more to do with the issue. At the very same meeting, a black eight-year-old Ladue student said his best friend tells him he doesn’t like the color of his skin.
John McIntosh, a class of 1987 Ladue alum, said he agrees that using the r-word (racism) can turn some people off from participating in the public discussion, but says those not affected by racism “have the convenience to shut it down, turn it off and ignore it.”
“Many of us have heard the term white privilege,” McIntosh said at the meeting. Many of us don’t believe it exists, but to have the ability to be able to turn something off and ignore until it no longer affects you, is one of the privileges that you have been afforded to be able to do, many of us have not.”
“I don’t think we should blame Donald Trump for all the things that have been taking place, in fact, we should be thanking him. Because if he hadn’t, we wouldn’t be having this conversation,” McIntosh said.
District spokesperson, Susan Downing said the NAACP has been more than helpful with its work with the district and they’re grateful to work with Gaskin who is familiar with the schools and that the process has given hope for the future..
The meeting will take place Monday, Dec. 5, from 6:30 – 8:30 p.m. at The Ethical Society of St. Louis, located at 9001 Clayton Road, St. Louis, MO 63117.
Seating will be limited and attendees are asked to arrive early and have proof of residency or affiliation with the district, such as a school-issued ID, a utility bill or official correspondence from the district, such as a letter, progress report or report card.
