8 THE QUEENS COURIER • JUNE 11, 2020 FOR BREAKING NEWS VISIT WWW.QNS.COM
Students, alumni rally for justice after stories of racism surface around Archbishop Molloy High School
BY ANDREINA RODRIGUEZ
editorial@qns.com
@QNS
As the Black Lives Matter movement
continues to surge as a result of injustice
following the killing of George Floyd, a
Black man, by white Minneapolis Police
Offi cer Derek Chauvin, voices all around
New York City — and the country — are
being heard.
But as people are recognizing that many
organizations and celebrities have stayed
silent throughout the movement, many
have also noticed silence from local entities,
including their high schools.
Archbishop Molloy High School in
Briarwood faced backlash from alumni
and current students due to their lack of an
initial response aft er Floyd’s death and the
several protests that have followed.
Shoma Nath, a 2016 alumna, took to
Facebook to encourage students to reach
out to the school’s administration and urge
them to make a statement.
“As you know our Molloy dearest is a
massive feeder for the NYPD, and has a
lot of white alumni. You may have also
noticed that Molloy has taken no action to
denounce any racism in the past week, or
in its history, yet capitalize on black bodies
as a diversity number and also for their
sports, one of the highest donation streamlines
for the school,” the post read.
Nath’s post continues on to urge the
school in addressing the issues by emailing
school President Richard Karsten and
Principal Darius Penikas.
Th e movement generated a response
from the school, which on June 2 posted a
statement on their Instagram page.
“Like you, all of us at Archbishop Molloy
High School are distressed by current
events that refl ect the racism and bigotry
that unfortunately exist in our society,” the
post read. Th e statement continued on by
expressing the Marist Catholic values that
the school runs on. However, this response
wasn’t enough for students and alumni
alike, as they fl ooded the comment section
with criticisms and personal stories where
they’ve experienced racism and bigotry
by their own teachers and peers that was
overlooked by the administration, as fi rst
reported by Queens Patch.
Th e comments ranged from students
who graduated this year to as far back
as 1990. Stories included those expressing
discomfort with their teacher saying
the N-word while reading “To Kill A
Mockingbird” in class and another teacher
constantly making homophobic jokes that
implied, “gay people should die.” One story
that was widely circulated is that of students
who posted a selfi e in white hoods
with the caption, “clikkk.”
Th e school’s Instagram post has since
been deleted. Alex Celedon, class of
2019, created a form for people to write
about their experiences, and students and
alumni took further action by creating
an Instagram page called humansofamhs,
which gives a platform for students to
share their experiences of racial profi ling
and discrimination at Molloy.
Sarah Rodriguez, class of 2018, decided
to create the page aft er reading a thread on
Twitter by a fellow alum who shared her
experience.
“I soon started to see more and more
threads on experiences and decided to ask
my best friends if they had any,” Rodriguez
said. “In a sudden burst of anger I decided
to post it on my Snapchat. I didn’t think
much of it but more students from my year
began coming to me with their experiences
and I felt they needed to be seen out and
in the open.”
Th e Twitter thread was created by
Liliebel Pujols, class of 2015. In response
to Floyd’s death and the Black Lives Matter
movement, Pujols found it the appropriate
time to share a time she got into a
disagreement with a classmate about the
Michael Brown case back in 2014. Pujols
explains that her classmate believed Brown
disrespected authority, only for the classmate
to then get intoxicated later that
night and steal a stop sign and express profanity
directly at a police offi cer.
“It was obviously never about authority
because I want to know where this
so-called respect he was going on and on
about went?” Pujol tweeted.
By June 3, Molloy issued a new statement
addressing their original response,
along with the comments. “Our community’s
response
humbled us. We
realize now that,
although well
intentioned,
our initial
statement
missed
the mark and was
not enough,” the revised statement —
signed by Karsten and Penikas — read.
Addressing the critiques received in which
their words are only words, the post continued.
“Now, Molloy is developing a
three-stage action plan that will: address
the issues of racism and sexism; institute a
zero tolerance policy for racial comments
and attacks; provide training for faculty
and staff ; hold each person accountable for
their words and actions; and assure equitable
discipline among all students.”
“We genuinely want to empower our
students and alumni and continue to listen.
In the past 48 hours we have taken
several concrete steps to assemble a student
advisory board for inclusion policies
and action as well as a group representing
our alumni perspective, all designed to
help us listen in order to make meaningful
changes,” President Richard Karsten said
in an email.
Th e school also archived its Facebook
group for alumni, which keeps members
from posting or commenting inside the
group. In response, students of the 2016
class recreated an Facebook alumni group
to allow members continue to share their
stories.
Multiple students and alumni agreed to
speak directly with QNS and share their
stories. Kirsten Erika Paulsen, class of
2013, recalled a time when a fellow classmate
stated that their right to free speech
allows them to use derogatory terms, in
which her teacher did not choose to prohibit
in class. Paulsen also said that her
guidance counselor didn’t realize her classmate
was using a transphobic slur in her
peer groups class.
“I understand that Molloy, as a Catholic
school, probably can’t promote
LGBTQ rights, but that doesn’t
mean it needs to tolerate bigotry
against gay and trans people,”
Paulsen said. “Like it or
not, many Stanners are part of
the LGBTQ community, just as
many Stanners come from different
faiths, countries and cultures.”
Kristen Allen, class of 2017,
disclosed instances in which
she witnessed. Th ese included
students calling Trayvon Martin
a “thug”; chants of “Build the
Wall” and “Trump” that occurred
aft er the 2016 elections; and students
expressing excitement for getting
the “Mexicans and rapists out.”
Taylor-Simone Frederick, class of
2016, while not on school grounds,
said that they were at the beach on
the last day of their senior year when her
friend confronted a fellow classmate for
his hate speech toward Black people that
was read during class.
Th e classmate then stalked Frederick
and her friend around the block as he
waved a Confederate fl ag.
“I had never felt true fear for simply
being black than in that moment at 17
years old,” Frederick said.
The protest
In response, students and alumni from
Archbishop Molloy hosted a “Not for
School But for Black Lives” protest outside
of the Briarwood school on Saturday,
June 6.
Th e protest was named “Not for School
But for Black Lives,” a play on school’s
motto: “Non scholae sed vitae” — not for
school, but for life. About 200 protesters
gathered at the school around 1 p.m., on
Saturday.
Th e group marched towards the Queens
Criminal Courthouse – about a 10 minute
walk from the Catholic school – where
they took a knee for eight minutes, the
amount of time Chauvin dug his knee into
Floyd’s neck as he died.
Th e demonstrators then began their
march through Forest Hills, where they
met up with a larger group of protesters.
Together, the group was about 500 people
strong.
— Additional reporting by Jacob Kaye
Photo by Dean Moses.
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