Over the past few months, the United States has seen discussions, protests, reforms, and more regarding racism in America. George Floyd's death spurred on what may have been the largest movement in American history, and that was evident everywhere from city-wide protests to conversations among families and friends. However, one place where that change has been absent is Strake Jesuit College Preparatory.

Strake Jesuit's engagement with racism in America seemed to end with Fr. Johnson's letter regarding racial injustice. While the letter carried nice sentiments, there is still a lack of actionable change happening in the Strake Jesuit community. One instance that illustrates this is that the administration has refused to meet with NOVA, the parent association group for students of African descent at Strake Jesuit, instead holding individual meetings with each parent. This example indicates a larger trend of failing to acknowledge the systemic nature of racism in favor of treating it as an individualized problem that can be solved with individualized solutions. Additionally, Strake Jesuit has replied to several emails and letters from parents with the sentiment that complaints must come from students, which further illustrates the previous point but also makes this petition even more important.

This petition comes from several students who love Strake Jesuit. We greatly appreciate Strake Jesuit feel very thankful to have access to the community and resources that we do. However, knowing how good the community can be makes it even harder to see the lack of change at Strake. Because of this, there are several things that we would like the Strake Jesuit administration to do: 

First, Strake Jesuit should implement each of the actions that NOVA suggested. These include hiring a full-time diversity and inclusion administrator, requiring diversity and inclusion/sensitivity training, incorporating racial awareness and Black history across the curricula, creating a diversity council, enforcing disciplinary policy, implementing racial justice-focused community service, and expanding hiring diversity. Additionally, we would like to echo NOVA in saying that, while the United States seems to be at a tipping point regarding racial justice, it is not certain that change will point the right direction, and implementing accountability measures within Strake Jesuit is an important place to start for our school community.

Second, Strake Jesuit should ban the confederate flag on campus. The confederate flag is an emblem of hate and prejudice that represents part of America's terrible history with slavery and institutionalized racism. It is a poor reflection of Strake Jesuit's values and should not have a place in an environment meant to encourage learning and inclusion.

Third, Strake Jesuit should ban the n-word on campus. Although Community Life prohibits "disorderly behavior" from students, we find that there is an issue both with students and teachers, specifically in English classes. This most often occurs when English classes read The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn and must find a way to deal with the n-word in the text. First, asking Black students whether or not they feel comfortable with their classes using the n-word when reading Huck Finn puts those students in a clearly uncomfortable position that is not conducive to students sharing their true thoughts. Second, using the n-word in any capacity in majority-white classrooms (as many are) runs into the issue of whether or not it is possible to use the n-word in good faith or a productive manner. Instead, what often happens is that students intentionally choose passages with the n-word to read aloud. There are other issues with the n-word in Huck Finn, but this example just isolates a larger need to ban the n-word on campus. It is not enough to condemn specific instances of racism - only actions that address its systemic nature can begin to resolve the issue. 

Fourth, Strake Jesuit should increase the number of Black faculty and administrators at Strake and provide ongoing equity, diversity and inclusion training and programs for all of Strake’s administrators, faculty, staff, and student leaders. While this is similar to some of NOVA's initiatives, we feel that it is important enough that it necessitates its own point. Only so much change can occur in an institution that is largely run by non-Black people who are not held accountable for their actions at any meaningful level, and these actions are necessary to institutional change.

Fifth, Strake Jesuit should hold students accountable for racist or prejudiced online content. That should include posts, comments, DMs, etc. Strake Jesuit students should serve as representatives of the school community and its "Men for Others" message on and off of campus, and preserving inclusive online norms is an important part of that. Absent accountability measures, students have engaged in racist and problematic discussions and have shared content that is antithetical to the mission of Strake Jesuit. Students should not get a 'free pass' to be racist simply because they did it in a setting that they felt was distant enough from school, and holding them accountable at the institutional level is the only way to prevent that.

It is important to remember that these are just a few actions that we feel the Strake Jesuit administration should take. It is impossible to offer a comprehensive recommendation for how Strake Jesuit should deal with such deep-seated issues in one petition, and the administration should continually listen to NOVA, parents, and students when dealing with racism in the school community. Please take a moment to sign this petition and share if you can - each person who sees and signs this petition makes it more likely that the Strake Jesuit administration will listen to the questions and initiatives that parents and students have been asking and proposing for months now.