LT Graduate Talks About Classmates' Racial Slurs

LA GRANGE, IL — Mya Jackson, a recent African American graduate of Lyons Township High School, says she belonged to a tight-knit group of friends and enjoyed her school experience. But some of her classmates made occasional racial slurs against her on social media, which upset her.

Earlier this month, Jackson, a La Grange resident, relayed her experiences at a Black Lives Matter protest in Western Springs. She spoke to hundreds at the Tower Green.

In an interview with Patch this week, Jackson, who is headed to Bradley University in Peoria, spoke about the slurs over the years. She said she has been called the N-word and told to go back to Africa. The slurs have come from fellow Lyons Township students, she said.

"A lot of these things happen to every black person," she said. "You pick which battles you want to fight. You don't want to be seen as the angry black girl. Sometimes, I'll let it brush over my shoulder."

But as she said at the rally, "It really does hurt."

Jackson said she has been told she looks like a "brownie" and has a screenshot of a student telling her, "Blacks this far from the inner city? How can this be?"

"I don't experience this every day. It's a handful of incidents every year," said Jackson, who plans to study biology in college. "I have found a group at LT. I have been accepted in more ways than I can explain."

She said Americans can combat racism by educating their children.

"Reach out to those African Americans that you know. Check on them to see how they're doing during a crazy time like this," she said. "It's gotten better. The United States has become more inclusive."

Lyons Township High School is 4 percent African American and 20 percent Hispanic, according to the Illinois Report Card website.

Both La Grange and Western Springs have been site of Black Lives Matter demonstrations.