SPRINGFIELD, MA. (WGGB/WSHM) – Another racist incident is under investigation in the Southwick-Tolland-Granville Regional School District. The latest incident comes just weeks after we first reported racially-charged bullying in the district, including an alleged slave auction where white students could bid on their Black classmates and six juveniles will face criminal charges for their roles in those discriminatory acts. However, some questions continue to arise after this latest incident.
We’re told racist graffiti was found in a bathroom, but the details on who did it are still unclear at this time.
The latest situation prompted Southwick-Tolland-Granville School Superintendent Jennifer Willard to address district families. She sent a letter to them late last week that read, in part:
“I am completely disheartened that I must so quickly address an issue of racism in our community. The district was made aware of racist language written on a bathroom wall. As previously stated, the district takes any acts of hate, racism, or discrimination in any form seriously. At this time, the incident is under investigation and the police have been notified.”
The Greater Springfield NAACP has been at the forefront of these ongoing allegations since they became public in February. Chapter President Rev. Talbert Swan told Western Mass News that, for these incidents to end, you have to get to the root of the problem.
“Well, when you have a problem that is systemic, addressing individual incidents doesn’t resolve the issue. The problem with Southwick is they have been laser focused on trying to spin a narrative about a singular incident, as if the slave auction on February 12 or whenever it was, was an isolated incident. It’s not an isolated incident,” Swan said. “Students still feel like it’s okay to put that graffiti on the wall because they don’t fear any consequences in an environment where this is allowed to thrive.”
We also heard from Allyson Lopez, the mother of a Black Southwick student who faced the brunt of the racially charged bullying we spoke about earlier. She responded to Willard’s statement to parents by asking for more information on this latest incident and said: “The occurrence of yet another racist incident has further compounded my daughter’s already existing race-based trauma, and as her mother, I am deeply troubled by this.”
We have reached out to the Southwick-Tolland-Granville Regional School District, Willard, and School Committee President Robert Stevenson for comment about this racist graffiti and have not yet heard back.
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