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MPR News Staff

After election, racist graffiti hits suburban high school

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Students paint message
Maple Grove Senior High School students painted this message Wednesday, following the discovery of racist graffiti scrawled on the walls of a bathroom the day before.
Photo submitted by Holly Johnson

 

In Maple Grove yesterday, racist graffiti was scrawled on a bathroom wall at Maple Grove Senior High, including one where "#whitesonly" was written just above another word: Trump.

On a toilet paper holder was written "#gobacktoafrica" and "Make America Great Again," President-elect Donald Trump's campaign slogan.

Maple Grove is in a legislative district that Trump won by 10 points.

The school principal quickly sent a letter home with parents in which he called the graffiti a racist message, saying it horrified him. He also said the school is looking for who did it, and that he's determined to make school a safe place. "This incident is additional evidence of the pressing need in our schools, our community, and our nation to find ways to talk about race constructively and respectfully," he wrote.

Students also fought back, forming two lines in a hallway to welcome students to school this morning and putting notes of support on the walls.

Tom Weber talked with three guests about what's happening at schools — inside and outside the classroom — in the wake of this week's election. They also discussed how teachers are talking with students, especially those anxious about the election results.

To hear the entire conversation, select the audio player above.

Guests

Susie Johnson is the parent of a student at Maple Grove Senior High.

Amy Hewett-Olatunde was last year's Minnesota Teacher of the Year. She teaches mostly immigrant students at LEAP High School in St. Paul.

Denise Specht is the president of Minnesota's teachers union, Education Minnesota.

Correction (Nov. 15, 2016): After this conversation, Amy Hewett-Olatunde contacted MPR News to say that she had misspoken during the broadcast, confusing two incidents of student harassment in the wake of Tuesday's election results. The school district inaccurately mentioned in the broadcast responded to the conversation — and clarified details of an incident in the district — this week. The audio above reflects the conversation as it happened.