This is what a Monte Vista student saw scrawled on the boys bathroom’s wall as he walked in.
Arrows drawn below the words displayed an open idea of segregation; one arrow pointed at a urinal labeled for “colored” and the rest of the urinals were labeled for “whites.”

To address this racist graffiti, Principal Ahern initiated an assembly that took place in the large gym, during first and most of second period.

After the issue was firmly addressed, students were welcomed to come up and speak out about this issue.

Junior Melissa Grim, was one of the first students to come up and speak.

Grim said, “I was compelled to speak because I felt like I really needed to share with the school that it doesn’t matter who you are or what you stand for, we are a school that should be united. We should fight the stigmas that may be stuck to us, because despite what people think, we are a very welcoming community and it’s important that we don’t let one person’s hate divide. My goal was really to let the school know that we are one, and even if you think your actions are funny or just a joke, they’re affecting somebody.”

One student turned into three, three students turned into ten, and ten students turned into thirty.

The line to speak only grew, never seeming to shorten, as more students joined the line, wanting to share their thoughts and stories about being discriminated.

Unfortunately, due to the long line and limited amount of time, many students were unable to speak, like junior Abdu Asif.

Asif said, “I wanted to say that this incident should have never happened. Also, while this action that happened in Monte Vista was unacceptable, I also wanted to let people know that I have experienced hate speech that is worse than this. As a Muslim, I have had people in Monte Vista come up to me and tell me that i do not belong in this country, that I am not an American, that I should get out. These types of statements are hurtful and made me feel as if I don’t belong in the Monte Vista community. However, I am happy to see so many of my peers stand up to racism and bigotry. It gave me hope that there are many people out there who will continue to make Monte Vista a safe and welcoming community for people like me.”

The assembly- which was originally set up just to address the racist graffiti-turned into something bigger, as the assembly took a turn and became a heart to heart moment among the students.

The following day after the assembly, faculty members went around the bathrooms to make sure there was no graffiti.

Although there was no sightings of graffiti, an administrator found the following note in one of Monte Vista’s bathrooms.