Hi my name is Ikeara Moye and I am a student at Collingswood High School (CHS). I need the community’s help to raise awareness on the racism myself and other students are experiencing while attending CHS. I’ve been constantly harassed by students and staff in regards to the color of my skin. As a 16-year-old and as a student, there’s no way that I should be feeling so targeted by my school peers, teachers, and administrators when a school is supposed to be a safe place for students. On November 27th, 2022 a picture of a monkey was airdropped to my phone, I reported the incident to the assistant principal and nothing was done about it. Later, a fellow peer of mine was pushed by another student while walking in the hallway and was told, “this monkey didn’t wanna get out of my way.” I spoke to the student and she told me that she was shut down by administrators and nothing was done about her encounter in the hallway. 

I feel like every time racism is brought up in CHS it’s always swept under the rug. There was a time when I went to the assistant principal and told her how I felt about racism in the school and her words to me were, “I know it’s racist school”. On November 31st, 2022 I was suspended for 10 days for guilty by association because I was in a stall with a group of girls and one of them had a vape. The white female was instead suspended for 5 days and while she said I was in possession of marijuana, I had nothing on me - my bag was searched, nothing was found and I was still suspended for an additional 5 days with no explanation as to the difference in severity. I’m in my junior year and I feel like the school has no other disciplinary actions except for suspension and then I get left behind and I have to catch up on work which causes me so much anxiety and I’m just a kid. On January 20th, 2023 a white male student went into a teacher’s laptop and changed everyone’s grade to a 100% - he got a one-day suspension. I’m reaching out to you guys to seek help shining a light on the racism that has been going on for YEARS at CHS, please help spread the word.#black lives matter