When the Southlake Anti-Racism Coalition formed earlier this month, they hoped to uncover racist incidents that occurred at Carroll ISD. They had no idea that one week later they would be flooded with over 300 testimonies and counting.
“We’re getting around 50 a day,” rising senior Caroline Hao says. “They just keep coming. We knew it was going to take off, but definitely not as quickly as it did.”
Comprised of both current and former students, the Southlake Anti-Racism Coalition advocates for equality and structural change within the district. Their first step toward this initiative was creating a forum where students, alumni, parents and teachers could submit their testimonies to be publicly published on Instagram.
“If you speak to any person of color or minority that has gone through this district, most will have multiple stories of discrimination and racism that they have experienced,” Caroline says. “This is not a singular issue. This is a systemic, pervasive issue that the city, community and district needs to acknowledge.”
Testimonies for some Dragons range from repeated uses of racial slurs to normalizing and excusing racist language and actions. Alumna Divya Kumar experienced this alongside other Dragons whose experiences were similar to her own.
“There was one testimony where one student told another that God had burned her,” Divya says. “What shocked me is that exact same thing happened to me when I was in middle school. I used to report them all the time and nothing would ever happen. Eventually I just stopped because I knew nothing would be done.”
While the SARC has faced overwhelming support from the community, it wasn’t met without its challenges. Early on during the testimony submittal process, the coalition noticed invalid email addresses sending in fake testimonials trying to delegitimize the group’s efforts. To remedy the issue, the group started emailing every submission, asking them to respond and confirm whether they wanted their story shared on the page.
“Those submitting fake testimonies are just reinforcing the point that racism is an issue here,” Caroline says. “We couldn’t believe that somebody would look at a situation like this and submit a fake testimony just to stir the pot.”
In addition to the testimonies, the coalition has released a 21-page letter demanding action from Carroll ISD. Some of their demands including banning white supremacist and racist imagery from campuses, implementing a “zero-tolerance” policy for racism, screening staff and faculty with an implicit bias examination, creating a syllabus of anti-racist literature and hiring a full-time psychologist, therapist, counselor or social worker at each campus to prioritize the health and well-being of students.
Some of these items are already being pursued in the District Diversity Council’s cultural competence action plan, which will be presented to the CISD board of trustees during their meeting on August 3. The SARC announced they will be there to read their demands during the public comment portion of the meeting.
“We are heartbroken to hear our current and former students recount these experiences in Carroll ISD,” the district says in a response letter to the coalition. “The students are very brave for sharing their personal stories. We know they are hurting and want them to know that hearing their stories has only strengthened our resolve to address racism, bigotry and acts of discrimination.”
The letter has already collected over 1,000 signatures from its supporters. Caroline says she hopes the SARC’s initiatives will help lead to improvement and longstanding change with the district and the city.
“I am proud to be a Dragon and represent Southlake, but we also need to understand and acknowledge that Carroll ISD has a problem with racism,” she says. “We need to work together to fight and overcome that problem. This demand letter is only the first step.”
To read the testimonies and the demand letter, go to the SARC’s Instagram, @SouthlakeARC.