Bridging Barriers
Bridging Barriers
An ugly incident prompts frank conversations about race among students at three Oregon high schools.
The student body presidents of Churchill and Roosevelt Highs embrace after a daylong retreat addressing racism.
PORTLAND AND EUGENE, Oregon—“They made me feel like a nobody, when yet I am a somebody.” That’s how one Roosevelt High School student described her feelings in the wake of last spring’s 5A Boys Basketball State Championships, which were marred by racially charged insults and unruly behavior by some students and adult fans.
An independent investigation commissioned by the Oregon School Activities Association (OSAA) confirmed that racial slurs and inappropriate actions occurred during and after the games between Portland’s Roosevelt High and two Eugene high schools, Churchill and North Eugene. “There is no question that a number of derogatory racial comments were made to the Roosevelt students, and that a few such remarks were also made to students of other schools,” concluded former Oregon Court of Appeals Chief Judge Mary Deits who conducted the investigation. After interviewing 55 witnesses, Deits painted a scene of disrespectful behavior during the games and chaos as the crowd exited the stadium after the final match with angry yelling, shoulder bumping, and some skirmishes reported.
The fact that a hotly contested tournament between a majority minority school and two primarily white schools devolved into name-calling and fan misbehavior shouldn’t come as a total surprise, unfortunately. But, what happened next makes this episode more than a series of negative headlines. And, it holds lessons for administrators trying to create a safe environment for diverse students, in and out of the classroom.
Giving voice to students’ feelings
When faculty and students walked into Roosevelt on the Monday after the final game, they were met with displays of both celebration and concern. Front hall decorations marked the Rough Riders’ second-place finish in the tournament—their first trip to the playoffs in more than a half-century—and their capturing the sportsmanship trophy. Principal Deborah Peterson and her husband had spent Sunday night decorating, but she was also busy composing a staff memo and a message to be read to students. “It said to them, essentially, these past few weeks have been amazing,” recalls Peterson. “You all came together to support our team and kids, [but] we know there were some incidents of a class or racial nature directed toward you. We’re devastated that this racial violence still exists in our world today and it’s shameful that we live in a world that doesn’t judge us based on who we are but on the color of our skin.”
Peterson invited the 70 kids who rode the bus to the game to meet in the cafeteria. They were joined by some Roosevelt staff and a team of cultural proficiency advisors who Peterson had summoned. “You could tell when the kids walked in, they wanted to celebrate but they were wondering, ‘Are you going to recognize what happened?’” says Peterson.
“I was surprised,” remembers Tyra, “because usually you just let it go.” But Tyra and fellow Roosevelt students felt that calling the students together showed that administrators “cared.” Each student was asked to write an incident report, giving witness to what they had seen or heard. Many were painful to read: “It’s not that I felt threatened,” wrote one student. “It just hurts me hearing the ‘N’ word. I’m not black but most of Roosevelt and my friends are, so it hurts to hear it because it’s disrespectful to everyone at Roosevelt.”
After the students returned to class, the group of adults pored over the statements. They called back the students who seemed most affected by the events and talked to them in small groups about their experience. And, they asked students what would help them heal and move on. “That was the beauty of the situation—that adults took the time to find out what their experience was,” says Peterson. “They felt heard, and they needed to be heard.”
Meanwhile, in Eugene, the allegations and the torrent of press coverage about the event served as an opening for classroom discussions. “There was a lot of finger-pointing going on at the time,” recalls Thor, a North Eugene student who is biracial. “Almost all of the students of color felt alienated because the students who were Caucasian around us were so defensive about the whole issue. It was hard to get a good conversation going until much later.” Holly, another North Eugene student, remembers many people being upset that their school, which has a 30 percent minority population, was being portrayed as racist.
Moving forward
At the Lane 4J District headquarters in Eugene, Superintendent George Russell had launched an investigation of the event, which ultimately drew many of the same conclusions as the OSAA investigation. Russell also moved swiftly to establish a “response team” of representatives from the school district, the schools, the educational service district, and the community. “Immediately after the incident, we decided as a district that we needed more than just a token response from the leadership,” says Johnny Lake, former vice principal of Churchill High School who is now on special assignment to the superintendent’s office. The task force was charged with helping the schools deal with the allegations as well as broader issues of diversity.
Meetings between the team members and Roosevelt representatives laid the groundwork for the next step: gathering a group of Eugene and Portland students for a cross-cultural conversation, something that Roosevelt students had made clear they wanted to do. “We wanted them to know how we felt about the situation,” Tyra recalls. “And, we wanted to show them we weren’t the bad guys,” adds Sammy, one of Tyra’s classmates. Eugene students shared similar motivations: “I wanted to make things better,” says Holly. “North isn’t a racist school [and] I wanted them to know this. I just wanted to speak my voice to them, and this gave me a chance to do that.”
Almost two months after the tournament, Holly, Tyra, Sammy, and 32 other students came together on “neutral ground”—a community college meeting room halfway between Portland and Eugene. The students—10 each from the two Eugene schools and 15 from Roosevelt—volunteered to participate or were selected by school administrators. “We instructed the principals to choose nontraditional leaders—kids they felt had the capacity to be leaders,” says Jane Waite, an equity and diversity specialist at Lane Educational Service District who helped facilitate the retreat. “We didn’t want the best and the brightest in the most traditional sense of the word [and] we didn’t want all kids of color. We wanted a nice cross-section and I think that’s what we got.” Lake, the cofacilitator of the meeting, adds, “We had a strong group of kids who were representative of the population of students. I think they also knew that they weren’t speaking for everyone.” Lake goes on to say that the first meeting centered on a set of clearly articulated educational principles that were shared with everyone at the retreat:
- Every student has a right to an education.
- Every student has a right to a safe and respectful educational opportunity.
- Schools should create and support community.
- Schools should support civic engagement, social justice, and community involvement.
Both Eugene and Roosevelt students admit being “scared” when they walked into the room for the first time, with stereotypes firmly in hand. “We thought they were going to be uppity—‘oh, I’m so much of a higher class than you’—and high maintenance,” says Sammy. “But we found out we were wrong.” The Roosevelt students were also surprised to see a diverse mix of students from Eugene.
The Eugene contingent had their preconceptions tested as well. “I thought it was very much going to be like Roosevelt would sit on one side of the table, we sit on one side, and then the bell rings and we start going,” says Thor. “When we actually went there it was really different. It was much more centered around us breaking paths through the differences and through the walls we make in our heads. We really met with a great deal of friendship.”
Breaking paths didn’t just happen naturally, of course. Kell, a North Eugene student, remembers that a pick-up game of basketball in the gym helped break the ice. So did a circle activity where kids were asked to tell something about themselves and then pass the ball to someone they didn’t know. “The bonding exercises of getting to know each other by where you’re from, your life story, what actually happened in your life, instead of by your race helped to form friendships instead of just two different schools,” says Holly.
One group exercise that left a big impression was all about building trust and cooperation. Wearing blindfolds and arranged in a circle, students were given a rope and told to form a square. Nicole, a Roosevelt student, explains that to accomplish the goal “we all had to work together.”
By the end of the day, a transformation had taken place. “North and Roosevelt were sister schools by then,” says Kell. Erin, another North Eugene student, adds, “We pretty much had each other’s backs all the way, no matter what the issue was.” The Eugene students also saw a shift in relations between the Churchill and North Eugene contingents. “On the ride up, it was Churchill in the back, North in the front, and we don’t talk to anyone,” says Holly. “But on the way back we were all mixed and everybody was talking. It was all people sitting with other schools.”
Patrice Kelly, a Roosevelt staff member who attended the retreat, notes that the Roosevelt students seemed changed by the experience. “They walked differently. They were more grounded in the earth and their grins were huge,” she says. “Something shifted in them and it’s still there.”
Building on the work
Students were so energized by what they had accomplished at the first meeting, they were unwilling to let it end there. North Eugene students paid a visit to Roosevelt to further cement friendships, and a group from Eugene and Portland met with state Superintendent Susan Castillo and her Youth Advisory Team. U’Aundrick (also known as Pooter) was one of the Roosevelt representatives and remembers, “Kids from all over came to hear how we decided to resolve this so they could take it back to their schools.” Lanishia, nodding in agreement, adds, “They were pretty open [about the fact] they’ve got big diversity problems.” One idea put forward by the Eugene and Portland students was an initiative calling for all schools in Oregon to discuss racial issues through assemblies and awareness groups.
A second retreat, also held in Salem, built on the first, digging deeper into the issues. “I think the [first] gathering was really about the event because that was the catalyst,” says Lake. “But by the second conversation they had moved past the event and were talking about how we can change the conversation to really inform our schools, our teachers, our administrators about what needs to happen in the schools.” The second retreat spawned lists of personal and school goals:
- Create a video with photographs of the two retreats, “powerful music,” and testimonials from the kids who participated in the meetings
- Initiate exchanges between different schools—in advance of athletic events—so students get insights into each other’s communities
- Make presentations at large gatherings like the upcoming Oregon Peacemakers conference in Eugene or Superintendent Castillo’s annual “Closing the Gap” workshop
- Create a curriculum and train teachers “in all the things we [students] think they need to hear to best equip them for real discussions in their classroom about race”
Underlying all the goals is the belief that—as Thor put it—“this isn’t just a thing between North and Roosevelt and Churchill. This is between all of us, and if we don’t continue this conversation we’re bound to repeat ourselves.” The students also recognize that the kids who most needed to be involved weren’t necessarily the ones in the room during those two days in May. “We need to pass it on,” Holly points out. “Not only to people who volunteer for these groups, but to people who need to hear it, who need to understand different cultures, because a lot of people have been raised in a certain society and always thought this way and we need to get them to think another way.”
While the students were coming up with their action plan, the OSAA began addressing the recommendations set out by Judge Deits in her investigation. According to OSAA Director Tom Welter, staff members were directed to study and implement six of Deits’s recommendations that dealt with logistical issues like placement of security officers at the playoffs, how buses of opposing teams are loaded, and how fans are directed to enter and exit University of Oregon’s McArthur Court. Three other substantive issues were turned over to a specially appointed board committee on conduct, made up of superintendents and principals from around the state:
- Should OSAA set minimum standards of conduct that are applied consistently across all the leagues in the state? (For example, turning your back when your opponent is introduced is a common and accepted practice in Eugene, but not in other leagues.)
- Should OSAA strengthen its policy concerning discrimination and publicize it more broadly to everyone who’s affected by the policy?
- Is OSAA providing sufficient information, education, and training on its existing standards of conduct and on diversity issues to member schools?
The committee will make its recommendations to the full board in December. But, Welter notes, “We’re an association of 292 schools. Our responsibility is to make our schools aware of the issues but it will be their individual responsibility to deal with it as their school or district deems appropriate.”
Lessons learned
Back at the three schools, students are forging ahead, trying to keep the conversation about race and culture alive. Their level of commitment and depth of feeling have impressed and inspired the adults who serve in support roles, even as they recognize the barriers that might stand in the way. “I admire these students so much for having the courage to bring this out on the table and keep it on the table,” says Miho Hosaka, a North Eugene teacher and member of the response team. “All of my life, I’ve never seen adults do that. They just ignore it and think that by turning their heads the other way it will disappear. These kids are having these courageous conversations, and modeling what the whole world needs to see, and we all need to participate in that.”
Roosevelt’s Peterson agrees that “what this is about is the greater educational opportunity that our society does or does not provide to our children based on race or class. That’s the real conversation we have to have in this country, at the state level, and also in each classroom.”
In having those conversations, the students have already learned a rare and meaningful lesson. In Tyra’s words, “We have the power to make a difference.” 
Equity Center Resources Promote a Safe Environment
From Jena, Louisiana, to Vancouver, Washington, school-based racial tensions have bubbled over into acts of violence that have captured widespread attention. A new report—issued in late September 2007 but covering the 2003–2004 school year—reveals just how prevalent such incidents have become.
The School Survey on Crime and Safety states that just under 2,000 of about 100,000 schools in the United States reported a hate crime incident at school during 2003–2004. The survey defines hate crimes as “a criminal offense or threat against a person, property, or society that is motivated, in whole or in part, by the offender’s bias against a race, color, national origin, ethnicity, gender, religion, disability, or sexual orientation.”
The National Center for Educational Statistics echoes those findings. A December 2006 study showed that “two percent of public schools reported racial tensions among students on a daily or weekly basis … during the 2003–2004 school year.” NCES found that the rates were highest in middle schools (4.9 percent), high schools (3.3 percent), high minority schools (3.5 percent), and large schools with 1,000 or more students (5.9 percent).
School officials have a legal obligation to respond to racially based harassment and bullying. But, more important, “they have a responsibility to create an environment where that doesn’t even occur,” according to Region X Equity Center Director Joyce Harris. Harris says all adults must know what the law is and clearly understand their role in creating a school environment where all students feel safe and included. “Students also need to know that when you harass someone it may be illegal as well as inappropriate,” she adds.
The Equity Center, which is located at the Northwest Regional Educational Laboratory, conducts school climate surveys, professional development workshops, safe schools planning, and compliance assistance. The services are available free of charge to public schools in Region X, which includes Alaska, Idaho, Oregon, Washington, Hawaii, American Samoa, the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands, Guam, and the Republic of Palau. School boards and other governmental agencies can request services by accessing a form at www.nwrel.org/cnorse/ or contacting the Equity Center at 503-275-9603. A number of helpful Equity Center publications are also available online, including Preventing and Countering School-Based Harassment: A Resource Guide for K–12 Educators (PDF).
One Student’s Reflections
As I walked into the plain, carpeted room at Chemeketa Community College on Wednesday, May 9, 2007, I had no idea what I was about to experience. After a highly publicized dispute between Roosevelt, Churchill, and North Eugene high schools at the Oregon state basketball tournament just two months prior, I now gathered with 35 other students representing—if not defending—their school’s involvement in the incident.
As a devoted Churchill student, I had taken my place in the stands for each game of the tournament. Amidst all of the usual banter between each school’s student section—the standard by which we typically measure “school spirit”—it was later alleged that Churchill and North Eugene fans had directed racist comments at the Roosevelt fans. The media took these allegations and ran with them.
Suddenly, Churchill and North Eugene high schools were portrayed across the state as racist schools representative of a white, racist community. Meanwhile, Roosevelt High School was portrayed as the victim—an economically struggling, predominately black, inner city school on the receiving end of racist taunts in an emotionally-charged, threatening environment. After hearing secondhand about the accusations Roosevelt High School was making about my school, the last thing I wanted to do was sit down with them to talk about it.
The moment I walked into the conference room in Salem to meet with the Roosevelt students, I could feel the tension. The cultural differences and mutual misunderstanding that had fueled the initial incident were still very much apparent. My own skepticism seemed to be confirmed as well. I felt out of place and on the defensive—a white kid on trial without representation. Amazing things can happen, however, when we get out of our comfort zones.
As the morning progressed, the student representatives from each school agreed to lay everything on the table. Opening up the lines of communication, we quickly discovered that beyond the color of our skin, our economic backgrounds, or the communities we lived in, we had many similarities. My perception of what Roosevelt students felt about me and my school was entirely inaccurate. Their perceptions about how I (and my fellow Eugene students) viewed them were equally inaccurate. Lack of communication, it seems, is at the heart of most problems, and that was exactly what had occurred.
Our discussions had just begun, however. We cleared the initial hurdles, addressing areas where we could have reacted differently and discussing how the actions we use can send a message that is completely opposite of the one we are intending. The bigger issue, however, was that most of the people who had come to participate in this discussion were not the initiators or even participants in the original controversy. The students that perhaps needed to hear what was being said, and needed to vent their opinions, were, in fact, not participating in this forum. We took this as our call to action. The 35 students in the room accepted the challenge of bringing this very important message of change back to our schools and communities.
It has been my privilege to partner with others to bring change to my peer group and to the community. What was labeled as a racial issue proved to be much more complicated than that simple assessment. Thankfully, those deeper issues were addressed and explored so that change could begin. This gathering of students was not simply an attempt at mending our schools’ reputation, but an effort to own our personal views and to represent ourselves and our schools in a true form, not conforming to stereotypes or assumptions.
We are all shaped, to some extent, by our upbringing. How can we be expected to understand one another when much of what we’ve heard has been skewed by the larger society? Growing up in a predominantly white community I would be wrong to assume that I understand the perspective of someone who has grown up in an environment very different than my own. It is not until we come into contact with one another, sometimes through controversy, that true understanding and change can begin. And the key to that understanding is communication.
For the students who participated in this forum, and the hundreds they represented, it all began with one step: the willingness to walk into that conference room, sit down face-to-face, and talk. Whether it’s about three high schools thrown into controversy at a state basketball tournament or an entirely different venue, the need for effective communication—no matter how uncomfortable or risky—is vital to our progress towards becoming stronger, healthier communities.
Sky Stickney was last year’s student body president at Churchill High School. He is currently a freshman at Northwest Nazarene University, majoring in journalism.
