Community Racism is a Problem.

Photo by Claire Beseler

Warning: This article contains recounts of racist, sexist, and homophobic remarks/actions that may be unsettling to some readers.

Dear LCSD BoE and Loveland Community,

Being white and living in a 93.5% white community (according to the 2010 census), I am ashamed to say I never really paid attention to the racism or oppression in our area. I decided to talk to some high school students about their experiences within Loveland in order to raise awareness of these instances to members of our community and LCSD Board to implement anti-racism and anti-oppression policies at our schools.

One student commented, “I think something that really bothers me is jokes. Once I was walking through the cafeteria and two kids behind me were talking to each other, and one of them said, — ‘if you threw a black man and a Jew off the top of a building, who would fall faster?’ — and the answer to the ‘joke’ was, — ‘trick question, they’d fall equally fast because the black man has chains around his hands and the Jew has his pockets full of coins.’ — I legitimately stopped in my tracks, and conveniently the water fountain was right next to me so I just sipped some water, but it was one of the most horrific ‘jokes’ I’ve ever heard. [It] wasn’t the first, or the last, but definitely the most intense and specifically terrible.” 

Another student mentioned, “I’ve definitely had problems with people using racial stereotypes with grouping [other students] and me together. People use ‘fox eyes’ more often than you’d think to mock (not in the context of fashion or art) and I’ve had people ask me what it’s like to not be able to see as well as everyone else because my eyes are so small. There’s also the basic stereotyping with academics where people would justify my good grades and hard work with ‘being genetically better at math’ and more.”

A student told me about her experiences at her old school and why she had to transfer to Loveland, saying, “I was bullied pretty bad at [previous school] for being a woman. I was assaulted during my freshman year by my boyfriend at the time and I only told some friends and the school administration. None of my friends believed me and neither did the school or the police. They all just told me shit like ‘that’s just what boys do’ and he never got held accountable. People called me a wh*re and a liar because of something that happened to me. People would shove me into doors and trip me in the hallway. The school administration even threatened to punish me, but not him. So I had to transfer to Loveland. The amount of discrimination and inequality women still face in our society is just astonishing.”

A student talked about their experiences with homophobia, “someone called my friend a f*ggot while we were all leaving the lunchroom. Because there were so many people I couldn’t tell who said it and report them to staff. No one else seemed to bat an eye and the next day my friend dressed completely differently in order to not be called that again.”

One of the biggest causes of racism is ignorance and because of our high percentage of Caucasian students and staff, there has never really been a place to learn about different cultures and experiences from the minority population. We can change and become better and more educated together. Black Lives Matter.

Sincerely, 

Claire Beseler — LHS Senior