EMAIL REGARDING HATEFUL IMAGES POSTED ON LOWELL PADLET ON JANUARY 20TH, 2021

Email to: Mayor London Breed MayorLondonBreed@sfgov.org , District 7 Supervisor MelgarStaff@sfgov.org , and Superintendent Dr. Matthews Matthewsv@sfusd.edu

Subject: Action against Racism and Hate Speech at Lowell Required

On January 20th, during an Anti-Racism lesson facilitated by Lowell, students were asked to share their thoughts and ideas via a public platform called Padlet. Rather than follow instructions to share positive, constructive ideas, students posted pornographic images, slurs, and other hateful comments. Because of the public nature of this Padlet (shared with every student at Lowell), many students saw these images. Students were rightfully upset by these images. They looked to the Lowell administration for action and support. Instead, they were met with formulaic, copy-and-pasted email responses.

Many Lowell students waited eagerly, hoping that the administration would issue a statement acknowledging the racism and anti-Blackness so rooted in the culture at Lowell. The email that they received failed to describe the horrendous images students saw today.

The students who expressed their anger and distress to the administration have all received the same response: The school believes that hackers were responsible and the information technology (IT) department is working to find the perpetrator. Placing the responsibility on anonymous hackers completely disregards the rampant, unchecked racism at Lowell. With such a publicly accessible platform within the school community, these actions could very well be those of a Lowell student. Eliminating this possibility further marginalizes an already small Black population. Historically, students have not faced appropriate consequences for their disgusting actions. Lowell has become a breeding ground for racism. We urge you to consider the likely possibility that these were the actions of a Lowell student.

Now, it is the administration’s responsibility to take immediate, deliberate action to fully investigate who the perpetrators were and remedy this avoidable issue. Ignoring our demands and letting this offense go unpunished would further marginalize the Black community at Lowell.

Our call to action is simple:

• We demand that you recognize these heinous acts.
• We demand that you admit that the actions that have been taken to address this violence are not enough.
• We demand that you start honoring the demands that were set during the Lowell Black Student Union Walkout in 2016.
• We demand that the administration takes immediate action not only to find this student(s), but also punish them to the greatest extent.
• We demand that the administration ceases to censor students who speak up about racism at Lowell.
•  We demand that the administration addresses the ongoing racist history and culture at Lowell.

Lowell’s prestige does not excuse the hateful, offensive actions of its students.

We are emailing you because you have the power to issue a strong message and take action against this hate. We ask that you go beyond this, as well. As city officials, you must pledge to dismantle the hate within our City and school setting. A slap on the wrist is not enough and the students demand change.

Finally, we bring your attention to the lesson that was being taught: Anti-Racism. These actions were not committed in ignorance; they sought to perpetuate racism, anti-Blackness, and white supremacy. If you choose to ignore this email, you are contributing to the same cycle. We cannot hide under our district’s progressive label. We must dismantle racism. Lowell and SFUSD have a history further marginalizing and ignoring Black students when issues like racism and discrimination are raised. We must stand with Black students and uplift them to address these issues. Dismantling this hate should be our main priority in order to move forward as an anti-racist school district and city.

As a disclaimer, we have attached an extremely revolting, offensive image. We are courteously providing you with a trigger warning that Lowell students who were not so fortunate to have. We are bringing this to your attention because unfortunately, this incident is not the first nor will it be the last that occurs at Lowell High School.

This email has support from the Lowell Black Student Union.