SOUTH BEND — Fifth district Common Council member Sherry Bolden-Simpson gave a “public service announcement” at the March 9 council meeting urging community members to be mindful of “showing our children what we should do in a community.”
Her announcement came after a Penn High School student reportedly used racist language during a student broadcast of a March 6 sectional basketball game against Riley High School.
The Tribune reported that according to a video posted on Facebook, a student announcer could seemingly be heard making monkey sounds and using a racial slur three times while Kelin Webster, a Black player from Riley, was shooting a free throw.
Bolden-Simpson said microaggressions and racist language are hurtful, even if individuals try to shake them off, and encouraged the audience to decide what side of history they want to be on.
“It is very disappointing that an environment and a culture exists that people would feel so comfortable saying bigoted, racist [and] hurtful words,” Bolden-Simpson said. “Don’t get caught with a picture like the people howling at Ruby Bridges, a little girl, [and] threatening to kill her because her parents wanted her to go to school.”
(Bridges was 6 years old in the fall of 1960 when she became the first Black student to attend a previously all-white elementary school in New Orleans. U.S. Marshals escorted her to and from school amid protests and death threats against her.)
Penn released a statement to parents and media on March 7, and the school’s principal, Rachel Fry, said the “language and behavior do not reflect the expectations we have for our students or the values of Penn High School and the Penn-Harris-Madison School Corporation.”
The livestream ended as quickly as possible, Fry said, and Penn’s recording of the incident is no longer accessible. However, because the video exists online and continues to circulate on various social media platforms, Bolden-Simpson said it’s a reminder that adults must be mindful of their role in the actions of youth in the community.
To conclude her statement, Bolden-Simpson sent a message to Riley and Fry: “Hold your head up high” and “be proud of who you are.”
Email South Bend Tribune business reporter Jessica Velez at jvelez@usatodayco.com.
This article originally appeared on South Bend Tribune: Common Council member tells Riley High School to ‘hold your head up’
Reporting by Jessica Velez, South Bend Tribune / South Bend Tribune
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