While the Naperville Central community of students, staff and parents broadly support the necessity of equality, racial justice and diversity in our school, we must also accept responsibility for having allowed incidents of casual racism to pervade our conversations, relationships and many interactions. This pattern of casual racism undermines any recent progress made in equality after the listing of a Central student as a “slave for sale” in 2018 and the national racial awakening after George Floyd’s death in 2020 that birthed the Black Lives Matter movement. 

“Casual racism” is subtle everyday expressions of prejudice or stereotypes expressed through  comments, jokes and simple phrases that may not seem harmful to those expressing such comments. Naperville Central and Naperville’s broader community typically accepts these slights far too often as “jokes” with little to no lasting effects, but this mindset is unequivocally wrong. Many who preach the importance of loving everyone and spreading positivity turn around and make crass jokes, undermining whatever progress we have made otherwise.

Even when casual racism isn’t intended to hurt anyone, these jokes and stereotypes lead to outwardly racist actions by normalizing racist vernacular. This creates a space where many students don’t feel safe speaking up. If everyone is making jokes that are racist because society acts as if it’s okay, it makes people who are truly bothered by it less likely to speak up. These kinds of jokes also give way to blurring the line between what is okay to say and what is not okay. Society becomes more and more accepting of offensive jokes, resulting in a community that welcomes, or at least normalizes prejudicial statements.

Examples of this can be seen all throughout Central: in the hallways, cafe and even in classrooms. It’s not uncommon, in our experience, to hear students use charged language, calling their friends “curry munchers,” “border hoppers” or casually talking in stereotypical accents. Hearing students use racial slurs within their friend groups has become a norm that persists because of minimal social and societal repercussions. Students who use racially charged language as jokes further desensitize the Central community.

The most recent example of racism was when a racial slur was written on a student’s athletic locker.

Expressions of casual racism aren’t just a Central problem, they are a Naperville problem that stem from prejudice and hypocrisy ingrained in many Naperville residents. Naperville is a community that fosters racism, and while many people reject the mindset more fall trap to it, furthering the problem. So while we can appreciate Central’s attempts to heal after the locker incident through listening circles, outreach and targeted language-based learning to decrease the chances for recurrence, the solution to this problem begins at home.

The root of casual racism starts outside of the academic setting. Some Naperville parents have adopted a mindset that blinds them to the prejudices in their everyday speech, and students adopt their parents’ mindset. Toxic, gossip-focused Facebook groups further this casual racist mindset, gathering together and using racist language even in an online semi-public forum. This pattern continues in conversations in front of their kids, who then bring it with them to school. If many of the guilty Naperville parents were to set an expectation and follow it, our community could start to heal this toxic, hate-filled mindset, with a trickle-down effect, thus helping our schools. 

Central isn’t the cause of the problem, it’s just another location in Naperville where racism occurs. So unfortunately, our administration cannot fix these problems through their efforts alone. Collective community change to end casual racism at home and in daily life is needed. The healing we need in the school building will remain elusive until our community at large changes its mindset.

This story was originally published on The Central Times on November 20, 2024.