Central Uncomfortable For Students Of Color: Sophomore

DARIEN, IL – The adults in Hinsdale High School District 86 have had plenty to say during school board meetings about the district's equity efforts.

They often bring up the latest national culture war issues, such as critical race theory.

But it's rare a student of color speaks out in public on such topics. It happens from time to time.

At last Thursday's board meeting, Gabriela Veliz Hernandez, a sophomore at Hinsdale Central High, said Central was an uncomfortable place for students of color.

A Latina, Hernandez said she agreed with an anti-racism consultant's assertion that Hinsdale was not a good place for people of color. Hernandez called residents' reactions to that statement "shameful" and "embarrassing."

She brought up her own experiences in the school. She said classmates' perceptions of her often reflect caricatures of Latinos.

"Once the fact that I am an immigrant came up in an icebreaker, the teacher came up to me, and surprised, she said I didn't seem like an immigrant," Hernandez said. "Then she asked if I was scared to go back, assuming I was an asylee, comparing me to her husband's family, who had run away from Ukraine."

She said another classmate went on about how she must have "street smarts" because she is Guatemalan. In contrast to that stereotype, she said, her parents are highly educated professionals and she went to private school before attending Central.

"We did not flee Guatemala," she said.

Other students who find out she is an immigrant praise her for her English and are shocked to discover that she attends honors English classes, Hernandez said.

"My brother is regularly called Juan by some of his peers," she said. "People assume I am Mexican before even talking to me. Someone once asked me what part of Mexico Guatemala was in."

Hernandez encouraged the district to continue its equity work.

"Central has not proven to be a comfortable place for me or other students of color," she said. "I should not have to feel afraid and be uncomfortable in my own school and community. And neither should my classmates."

The audience at the board meeting applauded her.

Under its policy, the school board does not respond to public comments during its meetings.

Hispanics make up 8.1 percent of Central, while African Americans are 2.6 percent and Asians 20.7 percent, according to the Illinois Report Card.