Black students at Fort Vancouver High School in Washington state shared shocking accounts of racism at a recent school board meeting, tearfully describing insults and disgusting behavior they’ve faced from schoolmates while urging administration officials to take action.
Multiple witnesses told the six-member Vancouver Public School Board panel that a culture of racism was pervasive among the student body, noting that it is common to hear racial slurs in the hallway or to see bigotry in social media posts, as well as in face-to-face encounters outside the school, which is approximately 45 percent Hispanic, 35 percent white, and less than 4 percent Black.
The board meeting began with a beautiful rendition of the national anthem by a diverse group of district students, while the angelic singing stood in stark contrast to the subsequent allegations of racism that would soon shake the room.
In a dramatic moment, Fort Vancouver sophomore Fatou Bojang described with graphic detail a hateful encounter she experienced with a classmate, who called her a monkey and the N-word.
She said the confrontation took place on social media and stemmed from a viral Instagram video that she felt was combative toward the Black community, which was posted by a classmate who, when confronted, claimed she had no racist intentions.
“To this day, she’s still proud of what she did, and anytime I see her on any of her social media, she just keeps going,” Bojang said, fighting back tears. “She’s not sincere about any of her apologies. I have so many screenshots of what her and her friends have said about the Black community at our school. This girl hasn’t been sincere about any of the apologies.”
In a video of the board meeting posted to YouTube, Bojang noted that the ongoing racism was impeding the ability to learn at the school while also eroding friendships between students of different races.
Without naming the subject, Bojang suggested that some white students were being purposely rude and insensitive while ignoring the basic norms of dignity and respect.
“Every time she has said sorry, she would just keep going with more racism. Especially with her friend who has said very disgusting things and hurtful things, it took me and everything in my power to not go off on her,” Bojang explained.
That’s when her testimony became deeply emotional.
“Some of the things that she said were, and I quote, ‘and then you guys got offended, bruh. And maybe solve it like a behavioral person and not like a monkey.’ Those were some of the highlights that she said and some of her friends said ‘shut your monkey ass up, little ni—a, go jump off a f—king tree and eat some d–do bananas, little b-tch ass ni—a. I’ll f—k any of your homies up, so quit talking s—t, b-tch ass monkey.”
By now, Bojang was sobbing and struggling to get through her statement.
“Things like this should not be acceptable,” she said before stepping away.
Another student brought up a painful episode where a Black student displayed a poster on the school’s bulletin board, advertising a new mental health support group for Black teens.
But despite its benign intention, the poster was vandalized with racist insults and the N-word, the student said.
At the time, parents were outraged when they found out about what happened and immediately contacted the school board to raise hell about it.
“This day and age, if that word was being put on there as a joke, whatever the intention was, that’s ridiculous,” Andru Morgan said, according to KGW8. “Something had to be done.”
Students and school employees took the stand to support claims that a major problem at the school needed to be addressed.
“Racism does happen at Fort Vancouver High School, and our admin doesn’t know how to handle it,” testified Relleesha Lewis, a sophomore and president of the school’s Black Student Union.
Navon Morgan, a contract teacher at the school, testified that he witnessed “first-hand multiple instances of intentional anti-Black hate speech directed towards students that I work to uplift.”
At the meeting, Fort Vancouver Assistant Principal Luis Castro Quintanilla pledged to do more to address the situation, but any potential changes would have to wait until next fall as this school year was all but over.
“If we partner and we have more people looking at these difficult issues, we’re going to get to a place, and we’re going to ensure we have an environment where students feel safe, valued, and heard,” Quintanilla said.
