Recent headlines have been full of discussions of Iowa Rep. Steve King, his racist remarks, and his white supremacist history, as if he’s the only Republican to hold these views. The truth is that the entire party has a racism problem. From my perspective as a 71-year-old black woman in America, any Republican who continues to support the white supremacist-in-chief who sits in the oval office is part and parcel of the problem, as are all those who gleefully voted for them in the last election. I’m enraged when people act as if overt racism is something new, when I’ve had to live with it every damn day of my life, as did my parents, and those black ancestors who were here before them. I lived though the vile reign of Dixiecrats, and watched them morph into the modern day Southern Strategy Republican Klan. Donald Trump is a true son of his racist father. He learned racism at his daddy’s knee in Queens, New York, not Mississippi.
Far too often, I see racism attributed to only certain parts of the U.S.—the South, or the Corn Belt—as if it doesn’t pervade every part of our nation.
For weeks now, I’ve been haunted by the face of a young high school student who lives in the county below mine in New York state.
Her name is N'Senga Kinzonzi. What happened to her isn’t an incident that ended in death, or miscarriage of justice in the courtroom. She wasn’t beaten, or raped, or wrongfully kicked out of school.
She was targeted and threatened by another student. A white student. A young person. Far too often, I am told that racism is the purview of the old. Sadly, it is getting passed on to the younger generation.
I wrote about white supremacist neo-nazis infiltrating college campuses across the U.S. when it hit close to home here in New York state.
Teen Targeted by Racist Snapchat With Caption 'We Must Lynch Her'
The family of a New York high school student targeted in a racist Snapchat photo is asking for her school to do more in the wake of the vile post.
N'Senga Kinzonzi, a sophomore at Minisink Valley High School, spoke publicly about the incident Thursday, recounting when a fellow student posted a photo of her on Snapchat with a caption using the n-word and saying, "We must lynch her."
"I thought maybe he doesn't know the history and I thought I'd take an educational approach and inform the student about the history behind this hurtful caption," she said, tears streaming down her face.
Kinzonzi went on the explain the history of the slur, and while the classmate apologized, the school district's response has been lacking, according to her family.
"This was a threat made on her life, and there was a call for others to participate in this. The caption said 'we' must lynch her," said mother Nicole Kinzonzi.
Kinzonzi said she's gotten a lot of support from fellow students -- but also harassment.
Civil rights attorney Michael Sussman, who has been hired by the family, said, "As painful as it is, we have to demand resolutions because we keep coming back to the same place."
I keep hearing her words:
"I thought maybe he doesn't know the history and I thought I'd take an educational approach and inform the student about the history behind this hurtful caption."
In spite of her own pain,and fear, she’s trying to teach.
I get angry, ‘cause it is not her damn job. This is the job of his parents. This is the job of churches. This is the job of the school system. This is the job of white people taking their family members, friends, co-workers, and neighbors to task.
Congressman Sean Patrick Maloney, who represents the 18th Congressional District where the school is located, tweeted this:
My local public radio station covered the story:
Minisink HS Student Says Racist Post Left Her In Shock
She and her family say the student was suspended for 60 days and the matter is in family court. A request for comment from Superintendent Brian Monahan was directed to his December 21 post on the school district web site, which says, in part, that the district has no tolerance for hateful language or any type of conduct that endangers the physical or emotional sense of safety and security of students and staff. The post also says that the incident was immediately reported to law enforcement agencies and, after investigations, and collaboration between the district and law enforcement, the offending student faced disciplinary action. The statement says the district legally cannot discuss any resulting student disciplinary actions, including this one, for any reason. Kinzonzi anticipates the student’s return.
“Apparently, the school is planning on changing his schedule, but that won’t prevent me from seeing him in the hallway,” Kinzonzi says. “And, when he does return, I know that the topic will be the new buzzing gossip in the school, and I’m going to have to go through that all over again.”
Her mother, Nicole Kinzonzi, describes what she views as an appropriate resolution to the matter.
“I want people removed from positions because that would send a message that it ends now, so, and people who are in positions that felt it was ok to ignore and ignore what they saw and listen to their friends or thought about their friends instead of the more global community,” Nicole Kinzonzi says. “I want them removed. They’re not good leaders, at all.”
She says the family has a meeting with school district officials January 7, and would have to hear the following to prevent legal action. “The superintendent has to say, I’m hiring new administration, I’m hiring these new teachers,” says Nicole Kinzonzi. “If he doesn’t do that, then we know he’s not sincere,”
“And here comes legal action,” Dunne says.
“Here it comes,” Nicole Kinzonzi affirms.
“Against the school district,” asks Dunne.
“Yes, because the school district, the school community, it sets the tone,” Nicole Kinzonzi says. “They’re inculcating children, they’re inculcating the future thinkers, the future employees, employers, or whatever, so definitely. It has to stop.”
I have not been able to find any follow-up in the news since the original spate of coverage.
I sat here thinking about why N'Senga’s face and story stuck with me, weeks after the headlines faded into history. Perhaps it’s because I remember facing open racism in New York City, when as a very smart young student I was sent with other ‘smart black kids’ to an all-white junior high school in Springfield Gardens, Queens. At that time, it was not an integrated neighborhood.
Our bus was met with a violent race riot on the first day of school. I can still remember the blood running down the face of a student who had his glasses smashed into his face as we exited the bus.
Perhaps it’s because I remember Rosedale, which Bill Moyers documented in 1976.
Perhaps it’s because tomorrow is the official celebration and commemoration of the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s birthday.
Perhaps it’s because I am aware that I won’t live to see racism banished into history.
Perhaps it’s because I want my friends and allies who are not black to see this as a moral imperative, and see how racism harms them too.
So today, I’ll simply ask this question:
What have you been doing to educate about, end, and eradicate racism—at home, among family and friends, at work, and in your community?