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A racial slur was discovered on an athletic locker belonging to an African American student on Oct. 18 when the sophomore football player returned to the locker room following a game. “N—–” had been written on his locker.
The student’s mother contacted coaches and members of Naperville Central and District 203 administration after her son informed her of the slur. By Saturday, custodians had removed the slur from his locker, but some remnants still remained.
“He had the same locker for the last week of football, and it still [had] some of the writing on it,” the student’s mother, Quiana Richardson, said. “It’s like it was scratched into the locker.”
Naperville Central administration opened an investigation into the incident on Monday, Oct. 21. The Naperville Police Department also opened an investigation.
“The tricky part of a locker room is that there is no video in the locker room, and so the video was analyzed about who was coming and going in the locker room,” Principal Jackie Thornton said. “Dozens of students were interviewed over the course of the week, and every possible opportunity for [an] interview and for fact-finding has been done.”
Neither investigation has concluded yet.
Central administration informed students and parents of the incident in an email sent out Oct. 25.
“Naperville Central is firmly committed to providing an inclusive, safe, and supportive environment for every student, both in the classroom and across all extracurricular activities,” Thornton said in the email. “We are deeply saddened and disappointed by this incident of racial hate speech that has occurred within our school community.”
On Oct. 31, Central administration offered students an opportunity to participate in a “listening circle” held Nov. 4 via an email sent out to students and parents. The opportunity was meant to allow students to “share their thoughts, feelings, and personal impact from incidents involving hate speech within our school community.” The same email also iterated “the need for this community-wide learning initiative” in regards to appropriate language.
“The school, they did something for the school, for the kids that are in the school, but [they] did not do anything for my son, my son’s self respect, my son’s emotions,” Richardson said. “[They] didn’t consider any of that.”
Richardson had the opportunity to meet with members of Central’s administration and coaches on the team following the incident.
“They did ask me in the meeting, what consequences would I feel would be more effective,” Richardson said. “And I said ‘I [would] cancel all games and practices and forfeit games if people aren’t talking.’ That fell on deaf ears.”
Richardson said that other members of the team blamed her son, saying that it was his fault that they were in trouble.
“I feel like I literally did not protect him in any kind of way and let this happen to him,” Richardson said. “As a single mother, we always try to protect our children the best we can… I can’t do that. And that was the first time I realized that. And it hurt. It hurt. It hurt bad.”
This story was originally published on The Central Times on November 18, 2024.