Niles Township District 219 Board Denounces Anti-Asian Violence

Press release from Niles Township High Schools District 219:

The Niles Township High School District 219 Board of Education made the following statement at its special board meeting on March 23, 2021.

We, the D219 Board of Education, fully denounce hate crimes in our community and our extended community. Our hearts go out to all the victims’ families and friends impacted by the anti-Asian violence that took place in Atlanta last week. Right now, our Asian community and our students are grieving and hurt.

The Principals and Superintendent sent out an email last week detailing resources available to our Asian students and staff and it is our hope that you use those resources as much as you need them. We understand that traumatic experiences impact learning so we would like to encourage our teachers and staff to take a breath, acknowledge the trauma that exists in your spaces, and talk about what happened.

We are committed to being an anti-racist district. We understand that breathing those words into this space is one thing and your ability to believe them is quite another. D219 has so much to do in terms of follow through for so many.

Hate crimes are not new to our community members. They are, in fact, entirely too familiar. So in this time of trauma and pain, we ask for solidarity from our community for our Asian community members. To quote Samora Machel, “Solidarity is not an act of charity, but mutual aid between forces fighting for the same objective.” It is our responsibility as a community to be in solidarity with each other and do whatever we can to help healing happen for our students, teachers, and administrators. Hate has no home in District 219.

This press release was produced by Niles Township High Schools District 219. The views expressed here are the author’s own.