‘Gangsta Night’ Was Supposed to Be Fun. Some Thought It Was Racist.

Previous dress-up occasions on the faculty have included “Hawaiian Night time,” the place college students wore Aloha shirts, and “Hillbilly Night time,” each of which, in line with college students and oldsters, handed with out discover. Gangsta Night time appears to have been organized haphazardly and on the final minute, and it didn’t undergo an approval course of with the college. Dr. Andrews, the superintendent, stated, “We might not have licensed that as an applicable theme” if the thought had been offered to directors.

For Mr. Summers, who was employed final 12 months, it has been an uphill climb as a Black man making an attempt to clarify to white mother and father and college students why the costumes went past harmless leisure and got here throughout as offensive, as a substitute.

“A few of these adults are saying, ‘Oh, you’re simply making a enjoyable factor that youngsters do over garments as a significant situation,’” he stated. “However it’s a main situation. Let me ask you a query: Are you going to be checked out as a menace in these garments and get stopped by the police and harassed? If I do it, I’ll get ripped aside.”

He reasoned that a part of the issue is the dearth of variety within the faculty and wider neighborhood. “It’s unsuitable, I don’t prefer it,” Mr. Summers stated. “But when they have been by no means taught that that is unsuitable, they’re not going to know.”

Though almost 4 months have handed because the divisive occasion, not a lot has modified on the faculty by way of new insurance policies concerning race or perhaps a persevering with dialogue. Mr. Summers stated a college meeting to handle the difficulty was held, however attendance was non-compulsory. Most college students, mother and father, academics and directors appear reluctant to debate what occurred in any respect.

On a current winter afternoon, a bunch of white college students stood ready to be picked up by their mother and father within the parking zone behind the college. Those that spoke with a reporter didn’t wish to share their final names. Drake, 15, chalked Gangsta Night time as much as a misunderstanding, saying its aftermath was a teachable second and that college students can be extra cautious sooner or later.

Adele, 18, added that college students have been merely making an attempt to be extra artistic with their theme evening concepts. Hillbilly Night time, she defined, was about their very own neighborhood, the place most individuals reside within the nation and on farms.