Andover High Students, Alumni Share Experiences With Racism

ANDOVER, MA — As Black Lives Matter protests swept the country over the last two months, anonymous Instagram pages have cropped up at schools, workplaces and other institutions for Black people to share their experiences with racism.

Andover High School is no exception: students and alumni have shared stories of their experiences at the school through the @BlackAtAndoverHigh Instagram account and the @blackatahs Twitter account.

The Andover Townsman, which first reported this story, spoke to creator Gabrielle Erawoc, 15, an Andover High student, who said it was inspired by similar accounts created by minority students at private schools.

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The submissions, made using a Google form, include class years, but are otherwise anonymous. Stories include racism at the hands of staff and fellow students. Not all submissions are from Black students; other minority students also submitted stories to the account.

"Sophomore year, I was told that I couldn't be taken to prom by a white junior because his family wouldn't want to look at prom pictures with him and a Black girl," one class of 2019 student wrote.

"The school resource officer wanted to search my bag for no reason," a class of 2020 student submitted. "When I declined, he threw me to the ground and pinned me down for 15 minutes while he whispered racial slurs in my ear and summoned real cops and detained me at the police station for four hours while they looked through my bag and locker and interviewed people about me. I NEVER DID ANYTHING WRONG. I reported the officer and cops to the town but nothing ever came of it."

"Senior year of high school, we were talking about the Middle East in English class. I was told to stop bombing the country and go back to my country by the girl that was sitting next to me," a class of 2019 student wrote. "Then the girl said she was just joking with me. No one said anything about it, even though everyone heard. As a Middle Eastern student who moved her 6 years ago, I never felt welcomed amongst the kids in Andover High."

Read more stories at instagram.com/blackatandoverhigh. Read more from the Townsman here.

In June, an Andover High alum shared on Instagram evidence of white Andover students using the n-word.

Christopher Huffaker can be reached at 412-265-8353 or chris.huffaker@patch.com.