Students Organizing Against Racism (SOAR) conducted an anonymous survey in the last week of February to expose the discriminatory language — hidden phrases that allow students to mock and exclude others right in front of teachers without detection. The data collected serves as a crucial tool to identify these terms and provide real examples at the weekly Wednesday educators’ meeting on May 7th, to help the faculty gain awareness and foster a safer, more inclusive school community.
To ensure the event directly addresses these concerns, SOAR plans to focus on slurs that often go unchecked in classrooms. Selina Son, president of SOAR, said, “We’re working to identify these coded slurs because simply sending out a list without proper context is ineffective.”
The idea stemmed from the club’s October discussion on racial slurs and a later DEIB (diversity, equity, inclusion, belonging) EARCOS (East Asia Regional Council of Schools) workshop, where the ongoing issue of discriminatory and coded language became a focal point. “It was a long persistent problem. We have had lots of students coming up to me personally and saying, ‘Hey, I’ve heard these things, but I don’t know what to do about them,'” Son said.
Dr. Willette, an active mentor in the initiative, supports SOAR’s efforts.”I thought it was cool to have students there with teachers learning together because if you’re going to have an inclusive environment, everyone has to be involved. It’s not just a few people, and it’s not a top-down thing—it’s a communal effort,” he said.
During the workshop, DEIB consultant Jessica Wei Huang encouraged student groups to bring this issue to faculties’ attention. “[Huang] kind of offered up a challenge to allow student groups to facilitate a faculty meeting or an all-school meeting or a workshop where it’s totally student-led. That’s where it all started,” Willette said.
In response, SOAR created and distributed the survey to lunch clubs, such as Lean In (gender equality club), LGBTQ+ Organizing for Various Ethnicities (LOVE), National Honor Society (NHS), National Chinese Honor Society (NCHS) and Spanish Honors Society (SHS), all of which advocate for a diverse community. “I crafted the survey and then got feedback from Dr. Willette and other teachers. It helped us to see how we should format the descriptions or which questions would accurately represent the problem that we’re trying to tackle,” Son said.
Survey participants emphasized the importance of identifying the scope of the issue. “In order to fix a problem, you first have to know what the problem is. This survey is a great way to understand the extent of racism in our school,” Yujun Piao, the vice president of NCHS, said.
Minori Kojima, president of LOVE, appreciated the opportunity to address the conflict. “Even if we hear harmful things, we tend to repress them because we don’t want to get involved. But even if it’s uncomfortable, it’s necessary to think about it,” she said.
The workshop not only aims to educate teachers but also to create lasting change within the school community through small but firm steps. “When you have a workshop like this and you find this new understanding, teachers will implement this in their classroom. And hopefully, students will feel more included or safer,” Willette said.
However, some students remain skeptical about the initiative’s effectiveness. “If teachers notice [the slurs], they ignore it. I feel like most don’t want to get involved unless it’s really bad. Some teachers genuinely care, but others just go through the motions, acting like they care when they don’t,” Kojima said.
This further fuels concerns about the potential limitations of the upcoming session. Some fear it might be a one-time effort without lasting impact or doubt whether real change will take place. “I think even if this issue was brought up to the teachers, if it’s in Korean, then kids will 100% find a way to go around it, as in they would come up with other Korean words that teachers won’t understand,” Kojima said.
Despite these challenges, recognizing them marks an important first step. “It’s really hard. You know, that’s why racism persists throughout the millennia. People find a way to keep the hatred going or find a way to ‘other’ people. But I think just raising awareness and putting it on the frontal lobe, makes it a little bit better,” Willette said.
With this in mind, SOAR officers — senior Selina Son, juniors Leanne Yoon and Niharikaa Banerjee — will lead the upcoming session, motivated by their deep understanding of participants’ struggles. “I see responses that are lengthy but also sincere. You can feel their emotions from what they’re writing. This means this problem is actually really severe, and it has to be addressed ASAP,” Son said.
As the meeting approaches, many remain hopeful for long-term change, especially if teachers and students actively commit to strengthen the school environment. “I believe that if we continue this work, even if apathy exists, the apathy will change to empathy. I hope more initiatives like this take place to bring positive changes to our school,” Piao said.
In the end, the session is just another spoke on the wheel, part of an ongoing effort for improvement. “The workshop is just another stop on the road, right? You plan something, you do it, you reflect on it, and you adjust. And you do something again to constantly improve,” Willette said.
