Black Students Say That Racial Slurs Still Used in Santa Barbara Unified 

Black students in the Santa Barbara Unified School District say racial slurs have recently increased in use across campuses. 

At the school board’s June 9 meeting, Black students brought signs saying, “The color of my skin should not place a target on my back,” and “Tolerating racism is racist!”

“Recently, we reported a staff member treating the N-word as just a fine in a swear jar,” said Iris Sejour, a student at Dos Pueblos High School. According to Sejour, this unidentified staff member maintained a “swear jar” that charged a dollar for every use of the N-word.

“And while our principal eventually apologized,” she continued, “why did it have to get to that point?” 

She alleged that the administration initially hesitated to act, “called it ‘tricky,’” and rejected the Black Student Union’s offer to help lead the response.

District spokesperson Ed Zuchelli, in response to inquiries about the incident, said, “Whenever we learn of instances that do not uphold our beliefs and policies, administrators take action to address them, whether at the student-to-student or staff level. The incident was handled following HR protocols, and we are not at liberty to discuss personnel issues.

“We want to state clearly: No student should ever feel unsafe, unwelcome, or unprotected on our campuses,” he said. “Hearing about our Black students hurting is concerning, and we take their experiences to heart.”

Students at the meeting reported ongoing anti-Black harassment at the high schools. It followed another recent incident in October when a substitute teacher at San Marcos read the N-word aloud while leading a classroom reading of Of Mice and Men, despite explicit instructions not to.

“Black students do not feel safe here, and I have personally lost friends who moved away because of it,” Sejour said. 

She also noted that San Marcos High School offers Black studies but Dos Pueblos does not, calling the district’s past promises of swiftly addressing bias and expanding ethnic studies “empty words.” 

In 2020 — following the murders of George Floyd and countless other Black Americans at the hands of police officers that sparked national public outcry —  the school board passed a resolution in support of Black Lives Matter and took action on demands presented by Black students, such as implementing anti-bias training for staff. 

Though faced with dissenters, the district accepted those demands. Since then, it has publicly declared racism as a public health emergency, allocated funds for anti-bias and de-escalation training for staff and law enforcement on campuses, pursued restorative justice partnerships and practices, prepared a racial climate assessment, implemented regular board reports on racist incidents in the district, and established a collaboration with the Healing Space at UC Santa Barbara to provide counseling to Black students. 

The school board again passed a resolution in 2024, this time creating an advisory committee to combat anti-Blackness. But at the time, Black parents complained of a lack of consequences for students who commit racist acts.

Students and community members echoed those concerns at the most recent meeting: Consequences are still lacking, they said.

Leticia Forney Resch is the co-executive director of Healing Justice Santa Barbara, which is in its fourth year of partnering with the district to support and mentor Black students, including visiting colleges, connecting with peers, and obtaining leadership skills, she said. 

She described these initiatives as empowering and said they foster relationships among students, while aiming to combat racial injustices and provide a safe and supportive environment for Black students. 

“Sadly, racial slurs and derogatory behaviors persist on our campuses,” she said, citing students’ reports that non-Black students continue to use the N-word despite strict no-tolerance policies. “Recently, there has been an increase in reports of racial harassment involving the N-word.”

She continued, “Allowing these derogatory behaviors shows the systemic and cultural problem … where racism is tolerated and ignored.” 

Yeko Vallete, a junior at Dos Pueblos and current historian for the school’s Black Student Union, said Black students get “constantly harassed” and “accosted in the halls and in class.” 

“Unfortunately, it has not gotten better since my freshman year,” she said. She recounted an incident last year where two Black students were “continually called the N-word by a white student.”

“When no further action was taken against the white student, monkey noises were made at them as they did nothing but pass through the halls,” she said. She alleged that when the students went to their counselor about the incidents, “they were the ones who got in trouble.” 

“Students at DP and all across the district have gotten used to being constantly harassed in an environment where the only thing they should be worried about is their homework or tests coming up,” she said. 

A’xela Ritchie, a graduating senior of Santa Barbara High School and former president of the school’s Black Student Union, presented a new list of demands, six years after Santa Barbara teens in 2020 did the same. 

Among them were a zero-tolerance policy for the usage of the N-word on campus from all non-Black students, regardless of context; better education for students on why usage of the N-word and racist behavior is harmful; stronger disciplinary action for continued or repeated racist behavior; full investigations into reports of anti-Blackness; and more robust, required teacher training on how to handle hate crimes and other race-related issues.

York Shingle, president of the Santa Barbara Teachers Association, came to the meeting to support Black students. 

“We need to stop being reactive to the racism we know exists in the system and start being proactive,” he said. 

He reiterated the students’ suggestion of implementing a common response if and when a student uses a racial slur or commits a racist act. He said, “We started that work a few years ago with equity leads at each site, but then that work fizzled out.” He added that teachers have been trying to implement lessons on addressing the harm of the N-word, but those efforts have been impeded by the district. 

“The work has been trying to happen at the teacher level,” he said. “We need it to be systematic and widespread so our students aren’t suffering anymore.”

Students and community members had unanswered questions about the district’s response to racist incidents and what actions it is taking to prevent them, as incidents continue to occur. 

“Conversations are not enough,” said Healing Justice co-founder Simone Akila Ruskamp during public comment. “We ask you to actually do your jobs, and if you say you actually care about Black students, to show us what that means.”

Boardmembers have repeatedly emphasized a shared desire for all students to feel safe on school campuses. 

Boardmember Gabe Escobedo recounted the momentum established when the racial climate assessment was completed in 2023.  

“At some point, we have to keep that momentum going and remember that this is something we are taking on and we’re taking seriously,” said Escobedo, a member of the district’s Committee Advancing Black Achievement, Wellness, and Excellence (CABAWE). “It’s gonna mean that, at some point, we are going to have to tackle the more systemic portions of anti-blackness on our school campuses.” 

He said that CABAWE “has solutions and suggestions, some of which we heard tonight or at least go to the spirit of what tonight’s recommendations were from our Black Student Union at DP. So I look forward to those coming to the board for us to discuss and really take them seriously.” 

He said as the board moves forward and evolves, the board and the district needs to “re-commit” to the promises it made years ago. He said the district needs aligned responses to anti-blackness. 

“It’s not easy work, it’s not quick work … but we need steadfast dedication to this topic,” he said. “I would like for us to engage with our Black student alliances and Black student unions.” 

Superintendent Hilda Maldonado said she agreed with Escobedo that although the district has systems in place to address and repair harm caused to a student or staff member, “those systems only work if the people in them are working it.” 

“I know that we need to try to get ahead of that and change up how we’re doing it, because we are needing to refresh and rethink how that work will be done,” she continued. “I want to make a continued commitment on how we need to all work to support our Black and African-American students … and when these issues arise, we will use those systems of investigation, but more importantly support and repair the students to help those in times of need.”