More racist images, social media accounts emerge, targeting Black students in Fresno
More social media accounts targeting Black students in Fresno emerged over the weekend, students said Monday at a news conference in front of Edison High School.
Leaders of the Black Student Unions at Bullard and Edison high schools identified multiple accounts at middle and high schools that have been posting photos of Black students from Fresno-area middle schools and high schools without their consent. The accounts have also reposted racist images from the eras of slavery and Jim Crow. Some of the images depict violence against Black people.
The Fresno Bee will not publish content from the accounts in question due to their racist and violent imagery.
“It shouldn’t be on students to take charge, educate, call out racism and enforce policies that have been made in our favor,” said student Rayven Few. “However, we will hold you accountable.”
These discoveries were made in the wake of another photo that began circulating on social media last week, featuring a student wearing a white garment resembling a Ku Klux Klan hood in a Bullard High School weight room. Hundreds of students at Fresno high schools staged walkouts and protests Friday in response.
District officials said the Bullard incident remained under investigation Monday.
Students who spoke at the news conference at Edison High said they were disappointed by what they saw at school on Monday following the incident last week.
“Walking into Bullard’s campus (Monday) felt as if none of the teachers really cared about my feelings,” said Elana Henderson. “None of the teachers pulled me aside and asked me how I was feeling.”
She asked the dozens of students gathered alongside her if any of them were asked if they were OK. They shook their heads.
“That’s exactly how it feels to be a student at Bullard High School,” Henderson said.
The conference was organized by Fresno Unified Trustee Keshia Thomas, who represents the Edison High area. She called for the creation of a commission to create better policies to protect students of color in Fresno Unified and said she trusts Superintendent Bob Nelson to back these efforts.
“The children of Fresno Unified School District have been traumatized enough,” Thomas said. “It is past time that we address this issue.”
She was joined by trustees Andy Levine and Valerie Davis, as well as Nelson.
Pastor B.T. Lewis, one of several community leaders also present at the news conference, said it pained him to hear some students say they feel numb in response to these recent incidents — that racism is an expected experience at Fresno high schools.
As a graduate of Edison over 40 years ago, Lewis said it’s time to start digging deeper to fight racism in the city of Fresno.
“We do want one Fresno, but you can’t just have one Fresno,” he said. “You got to work at it.”
The Education Lab is a local journalism initiative that highlights education issues critical to the advancement of the San Joaquin Valley. It is funded by donors. Learn about The Bee’s Education Lab at its website.
