Fort Vancouver High students speak out about racist incidents

VANCOUVER, Wash. – Emotions ran high at this week’s Vancouver Public School board meeting as students and staff at Fort Vancouver High School described ongoing racist behavior.

Students at Fort Vancouver High School described the culture of overt racism as pervasive, saying it was the norm to hear racial slurs in the hallways and racist language in students’ social media posts.

Fatou Bojang, one of the students who testified, said she heard racial slurs in her classroom and saw social media posts from her fellow students calling black students the “N-word” and “monkeys.”

“I saw in her TikTok posts that she wasn’t serious about apologizing,” Bojang recalls. “She kept saying in the comments that the joke wasn’t that serious. Something like this shouldn’t be acceptable.”

In another incident, a student put up posters for a club she founded to support the mental health of black teenagers. The poster featured a photo of her and was defaced with insults and the N-word.

Parent Andru Morgan said that was the breaking point when he decided to go to the administration.

“Whatever the intent was, this is ridiculous,” Morgan said. “Something had to be done.”

A spokesperson for Fort Vancouver High Schools said the principal personally met with the students who spoke before the school board. The district said it is committed to making all students feel welcome and safe.

“We will ensure that we have an environment where students feel safe, valued and heard,” said Luis Castro Quintanilla, deputy principal at Fort Vancouver.

Students told KGW they hope next school year will be different.

“For other people to see us crying, it’s just like you don’t see how much it hurts?” Bojang put it.