Schools hold spirit weeks to bring communities together and engage with students and staff. They can help students and teachers promote pride toward their school and other aspects they feel deeply about. Some schools have incorporated Black History Month into their February school spirit weeks. One Kansas teen thinks her school isn’t doing enough this month, which holds a special place in her heart. To her, she claims that they’re being “racist.”
According to teenager Ja’Niah (@sosweetj1), her school is being “racist” because of the themes they chose to represent Black History Month during their spirit week. In a TikTok video, she goes over the themes that her Missouri school chose for spirit week. She says in a condescending but hilarious tone, “Day One: We have church! Wear your finest church clothes on Monday.” She then goes on, “Day Two: Black Character Day. I think that’s cool.” However, she then says that “Day Three” is “Come to school dressed as your favorite decade.”
Day Four is a little weird because it’s “Cultural fit day.” On that day, her school instructed students to wear an outfit from any culture. She finds this odd because it’s not really specific to Black History Month whatsoever. And, of course, you know that some teens will take that day and make it as offensive as possible. Then, on Day Five, Ja’Niah says it’s something called “Blackout Day. Come to school dressed in all black!” The entire time, she’s smiling because she knows it sounds like a bust of a spirit week if they’re truly looking to represent people of color.
One commenter joined in with, “My school ain’t even do anything and my principal is black.” Another commenter shared, “Our school tried to make it ‘kindness month’ one year and didn’t acknowledge black history month at ALL.” They went on to tell commenters, “We refused to participate or would write on things going to the office” that it was Black History Month and shouldn’t have been called“Kindness Month” at all. It’s so disrespectful when you think about how so many black people were written out of history. They surely deserve this month.
