Name: Racist video by East Bay students prompts calls for expulsion
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Racist video by East Bay students prompts calls for expulsion

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By | Bay Area News GroupMORAGA — Some Moraga residents are calling for the expulsion of a few Campolindo High School students shown laughing while dropping the “n” word repeatedly in a video tweet.In a Tuesday statement to the Campolindo community, school Principal John Walker acknowledged the emails calling for punitive measures against the students — and mentioned that since Friday, additional videos have surfaced of different students using racial slurs. He said he is working with Acalanes Union High School District supervisors “to ensure that the students who engaged in racist behavior receive appropriate school consequences.”“The need for more racial equity efforts at Campolindo was apparent before the release of last week’s video of students making racist comments,” Walker wrote. Although the school’s initial investigation indicates the video was made a few years ago, “this does not diminish the pain and anger it has brought to our community, especially to students, staff and families of color.”The 45-second tweet shows a couple of female students riding in a car laughing as they use the racist term in referring to African-Americans. The video, which appears to have been shot at night, has had approximately 8,400 views to date.“Students in our community who threaten and encourage violence against minorities in our communities cannot remain part of our schools,” Moraga residents Don Mahoney and Mojgan Vijeh — parents of a 2009 Campolindo graduate&nbsp;— wrote in a June 7 email addressed to Walker. “As long as they are present on school campus, minority students know that they have no support from the school administration.”“We’re proud of our young students that have taken part and led recent anti-racist rallies in Moraga and Lafayette in support of the Black Lives Matter movement,” Mahoney and Vijeh wrote in calling for the expulsion of five students.&nbsp; “We expect the same leadership from our educators and the administrators.”Amy McNamara, district associated superintendent, said the “incidents are racist, hurtful and disappointing.” She noted the the district has been actively working on racial equity for the past five years, “including professional development for all staff, the support of Black Student Unions on all campuses and student summits focused on racial equity.“This week was a painful reminder that our efforts have not reached all of our students and more is needed,” she continued in a statement.Campolindo High English teacher Jamie Donohoe posted an Instagram video statement on June 5 giving his thoughts and opinions about the students’ video.“These kids were raised by our community, this community — they went through our schools,” Donohoe wrote. “So how did they come to this place where they feel like it’s OK, it’s fun, it’s funny to say this sort of thing?”Donohoe said at least one of the girls had been one of his students. “Where was I? How could this kid get through my class and I not take on whatever this crap was in her mind?” he said.He went on to question parents in the community, not just those of the students, as well as local religious leaders. “In your places of worship, are black and brown folk — do they truly feel welcome? And, while we’re at it, what about gay folk?”Donohoe said it was easy to label the students as horrible and call for their expulsion.“Let’s get rid of them — just expel them,” he said on his video message. “So what? They’re going to go off and live in some band of racists somewhere? We raised them, so you should be drawing a line in the sand — ‘You don’t get to say these things,’ ‘You don’t get to do these things’ — you should be doing that.“But, in my opinion, you should also be saying, ‘Hey, come over here now and I’m going to teach you what you should be saying.’ And call everybody out, including yourself.”According to , Campolindo High School has about 1,400 students; racial minorities make up approximately 38% of the student body, led by Asian students, with 15 %. Only 1% are African-American.We invite you to use our commenting platform to engage in insightful conversations about issues in our community. We reserve the right at all times to remove any information or materials that are unlawful, threatening, abusive, libelous, defamatory, obscene, vulgar, pornographic, profane, indecent or otherwise objectionable to us, and to disclose any information necessary to satisfy the law, regulation, or government request. We might permanently block any user who abuses these conditions.Get Morning Report and other email newslettersFollow UsMost PopularClose

By | Bay Area News GroupMORAGA — Some Moraga residents are calling for the expulsion of a few Campolindo High School students shown laughing while dropping the “n” word repeatedly in a video tweet.In a Tuesday statement to the Campolindo community, school Principal John Walker acknowledged the emails calling for punitive measures against the students — and mentioned that since Friday, additional videos have surfaced of different students using racial slurs. He said he is working with Acalanes Union High School District supervisors “to ensure that the students who engaged in racist behavior...

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Jon Kawamoto is a reporter covering the Lamorinda area, Danville and San Ramon. He was the Hills weeklies editor, in charge of the Alameda Journal, Berkeley Voice, El Cerrito Journal, The Montclarion and The Piedmonter. He previously worked as an editor with the Los Angeles Times, the Contra Costa Times and the Oakland Tribune. Kawamoto is a central California native and a graduate of Fresno State University.

https://www.eastbaytimes.com/author/jon-kawamoto/

Jon Kawamoto

Winner of the 2017 Pulitzer Prize for Breaking News Reporting. See the latest news from throughout the East Bay, including Contra Costa and Alameda counties.

Racist video by East Bay students prompts calls for expulsion

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