Latin@ students protest racist treatment

Sixty Latin@ students walked out of North Mecklenburg High School on April 12, saying they had suffered racist abuse for months. They could finally take no more when classmates taunted Tracy Vargas and another young woman with racial slurs during a discussion about the April 10 National Day of Action for immigrant rights. Not only did the teacher allow the racist remarks to continue, he laughed about them. Vargas said, “It made me feel real bad. I started crying.” When Vargas went to the principal to complain, she was told he was in a meeting and could not to talk to her. (news14.com)

In response, students organized a walk out. They chanted “Latin@s united will never be defeated” as they marched away from the school. One student, Flor Ramirez, said, “This has happened before, and the school didn’t listen. So sometimes you have to take other actions so people do listen.” (charlotte.com) Another student, Ivania Ramirez, said, “We want respect. We’re just like them, we’re humans.”

Students agreed to return to school on condition they could discuss the racial problems with the principal. (news14.com)