Racism is rampant at elite Brooklyn Tech HS, black students say.
On a new Facebook page gaining in popularity, Black in Brooklyn Tech, students describe offensive and insensitive treatment by faculty as well as classmates.
A movement to end the “blatant bigotry” erupted after several students, since suspended, allegedly made racist jokes in a private Facebook chat.
The school’s Black Student Union created the hashtag #blackinbrooklyntech to “share the stories of racial discrimination and harassment we face” as a minority in the top-rated school, and to open a dialogue, it said in a statement released to The Post.
The social-media campaign is an embarrassment to the city Department of Education and the 5,400-student Brooklyn Tech, the largest of eight elite high schools which base admissions solely on a special test.
The student body is 61 percent Asian, 20 percent white, 8 percent Hispanic and 8 percent black. Mayor de Blasio’s son, Dante, is a recent graduate.
Among the alleged incidents posted:
- “Getting sent anonymous lynching & KKK jokes.”
- A class clown at the front of the classroom did “what he seemed to think was a funny impression of a stereotypical black woman” named “Lakeisha.”
- Black girls wearing crop tops and shorts in the summer “get sent to the dean’s office while girls of other races who are wearing the same things do not.”
- A guidance counselor told a student expressing a goal to earn higher grades: “The day you get above a 90 average I’ll grow an Afro.”
- An English teacher instructed a student who skipped the “N” word while reading the novel “Heart of Darkness” aloud in class to “go back and read that word.”
In response to the uproar, one teacher reportedly told students, “Race relations aren’t that bad in this school. You could have it a lot worse.”
On Friday, members of the Black Student Union met with principal Randy Asher and high school superintendent Karen Watts to discuss solutions. Asher has already begun to “enforce mandatory sensitivity training” for faculty members, they said.
DOE spokeswoman Devora Kaye said: “We have zero tolerance for any discrimination. We’ll work to provide open forums for the school community to discuss these important issues and will provide any support that is needed.”