This is about more than six girls at Desert Vista

Watching the following video made me feel proud of Tempe Union High School District. They’re making the effort to be open and accessible during a time in which a very human reaction is to get defensive.

Those girls’ decision to trivialize a word that is soaked in the blood of our country’s violent history is terrible. I’ve stayed silent for a few days while I processed the anger, shame, and resignation that a community I sought to represent could manufacture this kind of ignorance.

But I’ve also always believed that education and rehabilitation are always better solutions than severe punishments and cruel public shaming.

These girls and this terrible picture are indicative of the heavy but inescapable truth that prejudice persists and evolves in our country.

This isn’t about an isolated case of racism or of a few bad apples making a “dumb joke”. This is about unexamined privilege and systematic oppression that pervades our society and our schools. This is about hateful remarks about race by fellow students, disproportionate suspensions for students of color, and huge gaps in test scores between white and minority students. This is about the hunger of young children, the desperation of their single parents, and the record levels of black men behind bars.

We should seek to change the system that creates this pain rather than attacking a shadow shaped like a group of smiling girls with a slur on their shirts.

Let’s begin by genuinely seeking to understand why a single picture can cause this much harm. Maybe start by listening to Macklemore’s new song “White Privilege II”, researching the movement of Black Lives Matter, and reading Ta-Nehisi Coates’ “Between the World and Me”.

Let’s pressure our school districts and state Legislature to pass policies that do more than teach a superficial political correctness, but encourage thoughtful discussion about privilege and oppression in and out of the classroom.

Let’s never stop searching for greater awareness. Let’s continue asking “why” and questioning our pre-judgment.

Let’s act with grace for individuals but with strident opposition to a broken system.

– Veekas