The parents of a boy subjected to repeated racist taunts by his classmates packed a Redlands Unified board meeting with a throng of supporters Tuesday, March 11, to demand a thorough investigation and a district campaign to combat racism.
“We come before you tonight not just as parents but as advocates for justice — not just for our children, but for every children (sic) that walks through the doors of Redlands Unified School District,” said Daphne Hawkins, whose son attends Mariposa Elementary. “Since moving to Redlands, our son has endured three deeply disturbing racist incidents in the last 90 days.”
Hawkins said one student handed her son a note that read, “Your skin is as black as your future.” Another student allegedly told him, “You should be in a comedy show because you look like a black African monkey.” And a class assignment featured a racist character from a Dutch folktale named Black Pete, which Hawkins described as a “deeply offensive figure that has been condemned worldwide.”
“Our children deserve better, and, let’s be clear, these are not just words, these are attacks on our children’s dignity and their identity,” she said.
Hawkins — founder and president of The LOVE Program, a San Bernardino nonprofit dedicated to improving the lives of at-risk girls and young women of color — also criticized board members for saying they would put the district’s 2020 resolution to eradicate racism on the meeting agenda for renewed discussion, but then failed to do so.
In October 2020, the school board adopted the resolution declaring racism a public health crisis and vowed to create more programs aimed at equity and inclusion following months of stories from current and former students who experienced racism at district schools. The move came five months after the murder of George Floyd by a Minneapolis police officer, which sparked national public outcry and some of the largest street demonstrations in U.S. history.
Channing Hawkins, the boy’s father, also voiced disappointment with the board for not putting the resolution on the agenda for further discussion. He said he was astonished by what happened to his son and the Black Pete assignment he said was being taught to kindergartners by a teacher who had been at the school for 30 years.
The character of Black Pete is a helper to Sinterklaas, the Dutch version of Santa Claus, and often is depicted in blackface with an Afro wig.
“We moved here because we thought it was safe. We thought our neighborhood was safe. We thought the community was safe and that our kids would have a better opportunity in life. We didn’t realize we would get here and they would have to draw blackface characters,” Channing Hawkins said.
Mariposa Elementary, which has an enrollment of 435 students, is located in an affluent area of south Redlands. Only 1.6% of its student population is Black, while 45.3% is White, 31.5% is Latino, 10.1% is Asian, and 0.5% is American Indian or Alaskan Native, according to California Department of Education data.
Supporters of the Hawkins family, who launched a social media and letter-writing campaign to draw attention to the issue and encourage attendance at Tuesday’s meeting, said the district was not honoring its own mission statement, which, in part, states it “is committed to preparing students to become productive participants in a diverse, multi-cultural, democratic society.”
Carolyn Murray, a professor of psychology at UC Riverside and education chair for the Riverside County branch of the NAACP, was among several supporters of the Hawkinses who spoke before the board.
“I’m here to say that school districts need to address anti-blackness and bullying. Unfortunately, anti-blackness and bullying continues to affect African American students, leading to long-lasting emotional, academic and social consequences,” Murray said. “Addressing these issues is not only a moral and ethical obligation, but it’s also a practical one for fostering academic success, equity and positive community relations.”
School board members apologized to the Hawkinses and their supporters for what happened, and assured them the district would take action through ongoing training, especially in cultural and racial/ethnic sensitivity, and raising student awareness.
“I am truly and deeply sorry for your son, that he had to experience that. It’s going to take awhile to get over something like that,” board member Patty S. Holohan said, addressing Daphne and Channing Hawkins. “But I can tell you that I will be a part of whatever we decide to do to go forward and to move forward with our superintendent and our board — that we do the right thing for you.”
Board President Michelle Rendler also apologized for what happened and vowed to, in fact, bring the 2020 resolution back before the board to see “if it still fits” or whether the district needs to modify it somehow.
“I do not stand for hate speech, bullying or racism of any kind to any student,” Rendler said. “We all want students to be safe, to feel safe, when they’re at school, when they’re out in the community. That’s a right that they have.”
Superintendent Juan Cabral called what happened “absolutely unacceptable,” and said that the school principal immediately addressed the matter upon learning about it.
“It’s horrible that that happened, and we want all of our kids to be better,” Cabral said during Tuesday’s meeting.
He said he met with the Hawkinses when he learned about the bullying incidents involving their son, and that’s when they informed him of the Black Pete assignment.
Since last week, he said, district staff members have been visiting every classroom at Mariposa to inform students that racist conduct is not acceptable, and those classroom visits will continue through the end of this week. He also said a staff meeting was held to discuss how to better identify racist bullying and how to intervene.
“I’m not here saying that that is enough. What I am here saying is that we are not going to tolerate this kind of behavior, and we did take immediate action when we were aware of it,” Cabral said. “The bottom line is that it’s not OK for our kids to participate in any kind of hate speech or make each other feel in any way less than, and we’re going to do everything that we can to teach them that it’s not OK and that they need to act better.”