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Monica Haslip, at left, Robin Rue Simmons and Michael Nabors are taking part in a panel discussion Tuesday titled “Racial Healing and Reparations: Two Steps Toward Transformation.” (via YWCA Evanston/NorthShore)
EVANSTON, IL In recognition of the National Day of Racial Healing, which occurs the day after Martin Luther King Jr. Day, YWCA Evanston/North Shore will host a virtual panel discussion that is free and open to the public.
Titled Racial Healing and Reparations: Two Steps Toward Transformation, the panel discussion will take place from noon to 1:30 p.m. Central Time on January 19.
YWCA Evanston/North Shore is encouraging area residents to attend this free event by registering via YWCA s website: www.ywca-ens.org.
Students who were present for the event say that they’ve had to face racial discrimination in a variety of ways, including in their interactions with other students and even in interactions with police and security at the school.
“(I’ve had) non-Black students through around the n-word as if it’s slang,” Makayla Sutton, a junior at Niles North, said. “Security and teachers pay closer attention to Black students and are quick to single us out.”
Students say that for the past several years, a disproportionate number of incidents involving security also end up involving Black or Hispanic students. Londyn LaVallias, 16, says that she got into a fight at Niles West with a student that attacked her.
Black and brown parents pressure D219 board to address racism
January 13, 2021
Black and brown parents from Niles Township High Schools District 219 demanded the superintendent and school board members address racism in the district and implement policy changes to create more equitable institutions at a Tuesday press conference outside the district’s administrative building.
Michael Nabors, president of Evanston’s chapter of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, spoke at the meeting, alongside current students and parents, and former faculty members.
Nabors said concerned parents and educators in the district contacted the Evanston NAACP branch two months ago expressing concerns and frustrations about the “ill treatment of Black and brown people in District 219.”