Earlier this week two Pearland High School students were arrested, charged with disorderly conduct and sent to alternative school for a month after being caught early Tuesday hanging a noose in the high school parking lot.
On the very day that news was announced — Wednesday — in the next school district over, a Hightower High School student was caught placing signs above two water fountains in the Fort Bend ISD school. According to a memo sent out by Hightower Principal Patricia Paquin, “White” was written on one sign and “Colored” on the other.
FBISD police were on top of it – thanks to some helpful students who reported the posting to administrators. The students was issued a citation for disorderly conduct by an offensive gesture and suspended for three days.
Thing is, the kid putting up the signs was an 11th grade African American. If this was a joke, this would be some kind of ironic punchline.
Nooses, of course, are considered a sign of racial hatred. As are signs denoting who can use water fountains. About 17 percent of Pearland High School students are black. About 60 percent of Hightower’s students are black. An addition already has been made to Pearland High’s Wikipedia entry. Along with all its awards and celebrated graduates, it is now known as the place where a noose was hung. – Margaret Downing
This article appears in Nov 8-14, 2007.
