About 50 people gathered outside New Trier High School’s Winnetka campus on Sunday, Oct. 25, to sign a pledge against racism and homophobia.
The rally was organized by Healing Everyday Racism in Our Schools (HEROS). It followed allegations that New Trier fans directed racist and homophobic comments at the Evanston Township High School marching band during the Oct. 16 football game at Ryan Field. The Chicago Tribune reported the allegations, which prompted a joint investigation by both school districts.
The gathering ran from 2 p.m. to 3:30 p.m. and centered on a Change.org petition called "Be Good Neighbors," New Trier News reported. Ninety-seven people had signed the pledge by 7 p.m. Monday, Oct. 26.
HEROS organizers, New Trier teachers, students and local politicians spoke and listened to accounts of racism, homophobia and transphobia within the New Trier community. At least four community members who attended the Oct. 19 New Trier Board of Education meeting were also at the gathering.
The crowd heard from students, parents and longtime residents.
"We are better than this, and we should be doing something," New Trier senior Anisha Vasudevan said in a speech, according to New Trier News.
Van Gilmer, a Wilmette resident, HEROS member and Wilmette Human Relations Commission member who lived in the segregated South during the 1960s, spoke about his children's experiences with racism. He told New Trier News he had believed overt racism was over until incidents like the one at Ryan Field.
"60 years of thinking things are getting better," Gilmer said. "And hearing that young people are using the n-word, [and] something against LGBTQ people? Unbelievable."
Swathi Mothkur, a Wilmette Human Relations Commission member and mother of two New Trier students, said her children had lost pride in their heritage since attending the school.
"[My two kids] were very proud of their culture and who they were, and I think once they came here [to New Trier,] … they were afraid to showcase who they were; they were afraid to bring food that was of a different culture," Mothkur said.
The pledge calls on signers to "be upstanders when we witness hateful behavior" and to "call out such behavior and to take steps to repair the harm it causes others." It also describes a commitment to supporting "comprehensive education programs" in schools that explore living in a multicultural society.
HEROS was founded in 2018 after a group of community members learned the n-word had been written on a New Trier bathroom wall and met with administrators about the school's long-term goals for racial diversity.
ETHS board President Pat Savage-Williams said Oct. 27 that the district had completed its investigation and shared its findings with New Trier, without publicly detailing the findings. New Trier’s latest update located for this report, dated Oct. 23, said its investigation was continuing.
