The Impact of Racism

Accountable, written by Dashka Slater, is based on a true story that occurred in 2017, recounting the incident that took place at Albany High School among students. The incident all started with an Instagram account that targeted black students and staff by making inappropriate and racist posts about them. Systemic racism contributes to incidents like the one at Albany High School by creating barriers. The role of implicit bias plays an important role in shaping individuals' and institutional responses to racism.

Systemic racism contributes to incidents like the one at Albany High School by creating barriers such as no representation in staff or the student body, no safe spaces for people of color, and not reacting immediately when the posts were out. As Andrea, a student at Albany High School and one of the few Black girls in the school, discovered she was being posted about, it harmed her. So Andrea took action into her own hands and informed Brustri about the racist post: “Brutsri was in algebra class when Andrea asked him if he’d seen the picture. Nobody from the school had contacted him to tell him about the account. [...] He was being mocked for being dark-skinned” (114). No one immediately reacted to the post and took action because it didn’t affect them or their group, since they weren’t black. Though in California, which is known for its diversity, Albany High School is a predominantly white institution, which caused the students of color, especially those who are Black, to be put in a situation where their struggles were left in the air and they were left voiceless. When the racist Instagram post first came out, the followers didn’t react instantly, nor inform the people that were targeted. By allowing the Instagram account to continue, it led to a bigger problem where racism played a big role. If someone were to take action, it would not have led to affecting the lives of the targeted students who later had to deal with problems connected to the Instagram account. But because Andrea had been informed by her friend, and the school took action a couple of posts later, they let racism have a negative impact. Billie, a freshman at Albany High School, was also posted on the racist Instagram account. She was informed about the Instagram account after the word spread around about its existence. Overwhelmed by the emotions going through her, she was surprised that there could ever be such an account like it: “Plus Albany was her first majority white school. [..] Not only was Wheaton one of the few Blacks adults on campus, she was also an expert at calming students who were overwhelmed by their emotions,” ( 116-117). As Billie was struggling to overcome the negative impact of being discriminated against, there wasn’t a place she felt like she could go to. The whole time she was at Albany High School, she felt like an outcast who couldn’t fit in. There weren't any resources that she could go to when she was being bullied or even when the racist incident occurred, no safe spaces for her or for people of color. The only reason she didn’t completely break down when she was pulled out of PE was because Wheaton was the one pulling her out of class. Wheaton was one of the few black staff members on campus. She knew that Wheaton had gone through the same struggles as her with being a person of color, so she trusted her. Because there was no representation in the school, it was hard for her to deal with the horrible incident.

The role of implicit bias plays a major role in shaping individuals' and institutional responses to racism, such as the decisions made by people regarding the incident, and even before the situation occurred, there were many actions taken that led to racism. As Charles describes his experiences with witnessing what just seemed like harmless racist jokes about Black students, said by his friend Jon, it caused him to believe that they were okay to say: “He called her the N-word and talked about Black people having a low IQ. [...] He didn’t think how Lolia would feel if she heard what Jon had said,” (134). Although Charles was already aware of racism, implicit bias still played a role in the institution, causing harm and unknowingly causing racist actions. By only caring about what his friends thought, and not thinking about the struggles that his friends who are Black go through, he went along with their racist actions. Not acknowledging what harm it would cause to others and especially his classmates who are Black. It was the implicit bias that caused him to make the racist Instagram account because he only acknowledged his friend's opinions and wasn’t aware of the horrible impacts it would have on others. Even if those racist jokes weren’t harming them or being targeted towards their race, it was racism at its finest. When Charles first created the account, he wasn’t thinking about how far from the line he was going. The followers from the account saw it as a joke, and racism never crossed their minds. Which caused them to interact with the instagram account, with one of the followers saying “ ‘Pls tell me who’s the owner to this amazing account?’ a white junior named Riley commented when he responded to [...] ‘20 Things The World Wouldn’t Have If Black People Didn’t Exist,’ ”(45). As far as how the followers interact, were they not aware that they were being racist? Many of the followers were not Black people. This implied that they weren’t affected by the post or even knew the hurtful actions they were causing. Because white people had a different history in the past, they won’t be able to know how it feels to be a person of color and go through the same struggles. They can only try to be in their shoes and think about how they would feel if someone were treating them the way Black people are sometimes treated differently.

Systematic racism contributed to the incidents that occurred at Albany High School it causing a lot of issues impacting the students of color and making them feel like outcasts. The role of implicit bias played a major role in shaping individuals such as Charles and his friends, leading them to continue with their racist behavior. Implicit bias also affected the way that institutional responses led to racism. My hope for San Rafael is to react immediately and hear from others if ever in a controversy like the one that occurred in Albany High School. They should be able to hear from everyone's side, and they already have rules that racism is never allowed. The lessons that could be learned from the book Accountable focus more on the topics that aren’t talked about, such as institutions that make people of color feel inferior. With all of the money from Marin going to the schools that are mainly white, there aren’t resources left for other schools that are mostly people of color to help overcome these challenges. San Rafael High School could do better than Albany High School by taking risks of facing these challenges, and making sure no one feels helpless or an outcast. By continuing to not tolerate racism and hatred, San Rafael High School is taking action and making change throughout the school, little by little.