« We have to graduate from here. We want to feel proud that we graduated here. »
AUBURN, MI — Some students at Bay City Western High School say Confederate flags on vehicles lining the entrance tarnishes the school’s name.
« It’s really embarrassing to our school, » said sophomore Hannah Bollman. « We have to graduate from here. We want to feel proud that we graduated here. »
The 16-year-old was among a group of students who skipped class Wednesday, April 18, to counter-protest what they say is the final straw in a series of students targeting their minority colleagues.
For the past two days, Confederate flags waved from trucks lined on the roadway leading into and around Western High School.
Wednesday was the first day opposition protesters decided to take up some of the public parking spaces in an effort to thwart the rebel flag bearers.
« If our administrators can’t do anything about it then we’ll step up and do it ourselves, » said Kendrix Szilagyi, a 16-year-old junior. « I’m totally for freedom of speech, but this is racial targeting. »
Some of the students expressed concern of the unwelcoming message the Confederate flag display would send to other, more diverse schools visiting for sports games.
Amiya Zissler, who is black, said this will be her last year at Western. The 16-year-old junior said a couple weeks ago someone called her a racial slur, and it wasn’t the first time.
The offending student, she said, was punished with an in-school suspension and made to write an apology letter to Zissler, which she said she never received.
« I just feel uncomfortable, » Zissler said of the flag display.
Bay City Schools Superintendent Stephen Bigelow said staff plan on launching an internal investigation to see if Tuesday’s display was racially motivated.
Thomas Baird, board vice president of Bay City Schools, said the display does the school no favors.
« It does not present the school district in a positive light, » Baird said. « Some matters need to be addressed swiftly, promptly. It’s unfortunate. It’s not good. »
Robert Handeyside, president of the Bridge Center for Racial Harmony, called the display cowardly and an act of bullying toward students of color attending the school.
« The intent nowadays to display the Confederate flag, the Confederate battle flag, is probably one more of racism than it is of rebellion, » Handeyside said. « I think it’s nakedly racist and the people who display it know that. They’re showing their cards. »
Handeyside suggested the district solicit ideas from students on how they should respond to this display and similar future ones.
After the flags appeared Tuesday, 17-year-old junior Kendall Frost told The Bay City Times-MLive some of her fellow classmates organized the display on social media in what she believes was intended to intimidate and bully certain black students.
Kendall, who is black, provided screen caps of text messages with racial slurs. She also said some students told her and other black classmates they « shouldn’t go to Western because of our skin tone. »
In a Snapchat video taken by a Western student acquired by MLive, footage depicts at least three males in a vehicle recording the flags’ demonstration. At one point, one of the males can be heard swearing and using a racial slur as text appears on screen stating « Fly em high boys. »
Cameron Myers, a student waving the Confederate flag, contended he’s not motivated by racism.
« It’s not about racism; it’s a country boy thing, » he said. « If we were going over there and saying racist slurs and cussing them out, that would be another thing. »
Myers also said a Confederate flag of his was torn from his vehicle on school property last week. He said it was an « injustice » that no one was punished for the deed.
« If we went over there and tore down their rainbow flag, we’d all be expelled, » he said.
Mary Williams, an Auburn native who graduated from Western, said other than news reports, she hasn’t heard much about the situation at the high school and that it hasn’t come up in conversation with friends.
« I think there’s other stuff in life to worry about, » Williams said. « Kids are going to be kids. We just want sunshine. »
