Racist Video
In the spring of 2019, a Midland High School student made and circulated a racist video about fellow classmates – a Black male student and a white female student. The video featured only partially rendered human figures, but the presumably white male figure and narrator carries and points a gun while claiming that the interracial relationship would lead to “rape, drug abuse or even murder” – all stereotypes with a long racist history. The 32-second video styled itself as a newscast and flashed on screen a headline using the n-word. Although most of the video featured nondescript human renderings, there was a brief flash of a photo of the MHS students in question following the headline.
The school district’s initial response seemed to be to try to smooth it over without much fuss. Superintendent Michael Sharrow condemned the video, but also refused to discuss the district’s plan of action, citing the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act as his reason for not discussing discipline or next steps with the public. As the video circulated and more people in the community became aware of what transpired, parents and students alike were outraged and demanded the school do more to address racism. Local news station WNEM reported that some students no longer felt safe in the buildings. Many parents expressed concern over disciplinary consequences.
Even national news outlets picked up the story. A group of moms met and decided that the Board of Education needed to understand that the problems with racism were deeper than one video. They organized people to speak out during the public comments time at the next BOE meeting. Public comments lasted so long that the BOE had to vote to extend the meeting time, but to their credit, they let every person who wanted to speak have the time to do so.
Some talked about personal experiences, such as children claiming brown skin was dirty or saying slavery should still exist. Explaining how Midland struggles with inclusion, Ayana Haynes said, “Midland is a place that welcomes you into their house but doesn’t take your coat or offer you a drink of water or even offer you a seat.” Erin Walker expressed how many were fed up with MPS not really talking about or teaching about the issues.
She wondered, “How do you fix something if you don’t talk about it? All I ask is [for you] to see me. Sometimes I feel people of color are invisible… I beg of you to have the conversation.” The BOE voted 6-1 to expel the student who made the video. The incident, along with the national media attention, served as a catalyst for more intentional work addressing racism. As part of an initiative of Dow Chemical to improve Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion, Dr. Amy Beasley served as a consultant and help the district craft new policies. These were positive steps, even though they have not yet fundamentally shifted the culture in MPS.
See (click to view):
Board of Education Public Video Comments
“Midland school board grapples with video fallout; student expelled”
“Superintendent: District moving forward after racist video incident”
