Illustration by Maytal Bach
Berkeley High School (BHS) students and staff learned of an Instagram account created and followed by BHS students that contained racist, anti-Semitic, and ableist content on Monday, September 25.
Although the account was created over the summer, last week was the first time many people learned of it, sparking demands for discipline for involved students and systemic change in the school at large.
The account, which was named “i_hate_jews45,” included memes with anti-black slurs, content targeting people with Down Syndrome, swastikas and other anti-Semitic subject matter, and a derogatory post aimed towards Japanese-American people. Some students involved in the account also participated in a group chat that included offensive comments and images.
On Tuesday, September 26, the BHS Black Student Union (BSU) invited students involved in and affected by the account or the group chat to attend the club’s lunchtime meeting. Several students came and apologized for their actions. After the meeting, a student who was impacted by the account, Berkeley International High School Junior Elam Dang-Richardson, got into a physical altercation with one of its creators who said that the response was an overreaction.
That evening, BSU members and Jewish students spoke to the Berkeley Unified School District (BUSD) Board of Education during public comment. Dang-Richardson criticized administrators for assigning him a suspension similar in length to the punishment given to the account creators. Other students expressed outrage about Dang-Richardson’s suspension on social media with the hashtag Justice4Elam.
Academic Choice Junior Laelah Jackson, speaking with the BSU, said that the formal consequences for students involved in the account were insufficient.
“It is evident that Berkeley High knows how to handle issues surrounding physical harm, but the lack in knowledge of what to do when it comes to emotional harm is baffling,” Jackson said at the meeting.
She proposed extended suspensions, sensitivity training, and additional education on racism, anti-Semitism, and ableism for the account members.
BHS Principal Erin Schweng said students have participated in some sensitivity training and administrators are working to compile resources for a more extensive training curriculum at least equivalent to the four week counseling series students receive if they are caught in possession of or intoxicated by drugs or alcohol.
Through conversations with students affected by the account, Schweng said, “One of the things we really heard clearly was that this is not something that should be treated with a single suspension or a one-time-only event, but with an ongoing effort to re-educate and to really help students learn from this mistake and change, as opposed to one conversation with an administrator and then move on.”
Another aspect of this re-education effort is restorative justice, a process that supports students who have done harm in attempts to address it. BHS Dean of Students Kiernan Rok said that all four students that received discipline related to the Instagram account or its aftermath will be involved in a restorative justice process.
Rok said, “One of my goals throughout this process has been to really listen to students that were harmed and to try to understand, from them, what they want and what they need.” One of the things students requested, Rok said, was a public acknowledgement on the part of perpetrators before they re-enter class. Students began reading apologies to their classes on Friday, September 28.
Dang-Richardson said that while he supported the idea of involved students publicly acknowledging their actions, he thought sensitivity training and restorative justice insufficient to educate them.
“These kids grow up ingrained with these ideas and a couple months of being educated on these topics are not going to change [their] ideas,” he said. He suggested that African-American history be taught by teachers of color starting at younger grade levels.
In the days following its exposure, many BHS teachers chose to hold in-class discussions about the account. “When something’s going on that is impacting students, whether it’s local or national, we need to create space to have conversations about it,” said Economics teacher Matthew Meyer. Meyer had students write about what they were feeling, their responsibility towards healing their community and preventing harmful events in the future, and what justice and healing look like in this situation.
Another topic discussed in classrooms was why events targeting students of color and other communities at BHS have occurred consistently in past years. A noose was discovered hanging from a tree on campus three years ago, and two years ago, a student wrote a threat of racist violence on a library computer home screen. Both incidents sparked in-class discussions, assemblies, and debates over disciplinary action.
“Berkeley High almost never responds to these issues appropriately. [They’re] swept under the rug: admin hides behind ed code, those accused have no real remorse, and people actually feel sorry for them,” said Jackson. She said events like the creation of the Instagram account happen because past responses have proven such incidents can be gotten away with.
School Board President Ty Alper said that incidents continue to occur because prejudice is present in Berkeley and across the country. He emphasized the district’s role in educating student leaders to advocate for social justice, equity, and acceptance.