Racist graffiti found at another Sacramento school. Parents want district to take action

Racist graffiti was found at the campus of Rosemont High School on a second-floor hallway and has since been removed, Sacramento City Unified School District officials said.

The district reported the incident to the Sacramento Sheriff’s Office and will continue to ‘fully investigate’ the graffiti. The SCUSD has begun to review the security camera footage and provide copies to law enforcement.

Superintendent Jorge A. Aguilar said the district does not the graffiti lightly.

“That is why we are widely sharing that another act of disgraceful racist graffiti has taken place in our schools,” said Aguilar. “As a community we need to loudly condemn this hateful act. Racist incidents will not be tolerated in our schools.”

The district said that appropriate disciplinary action will be taken against anyone involved with the racial incident.

Rosemont High School Principal Elizabeth Vigil was upset about what occurred on the campus. She encouraged families to speak with their children about what took place, hoping for someone to come forward.

“I am deeply saddened and outraged that this act of racism has happened at our school,” said Vigil. “Our Rosemont community needs to do all that we can to condemn this hateful act together and strive to create a welcoming place for all our students.”

Fayzah Mughal, who lives nearby and has children in the school district, took issue with the way officials have handled recent racial incidents. She said it’s “a problem” when officials would rather react to racial incidents, rather than working to prevent them.

“In Rosemont High’s case, the administrator urged families to talk to their kids on the night of the incident not to talk to them about racism and being anti-racist, but to get in on the detective work of catching the culprit,” said Mughal.

It’s the second a racial graffiti incident that occurred at a school in her Rancho Cordova neighborhood.

Earlier this month, two George Washington Carver School of Arts and Science students were issued citations for felony vandalism charges after they were caught on camera writing racial expletives, swastikas, and other hateful messages on the campus walls of Abraham Lincoln Elementary School.

“What do you do when it’s the neighborhood kids engaging in this racist behavior and it lives in your own backyard?” Mughal said. “Where is that same energy in addressing the root cause of the racism that drove the act of vandalism in the first place?”

The district this school year also has addressed racist graffiti at McClatchy High School. Someone also wrote racist graffiti at West Campus High School in a November in a manner that a vice principal believed was aimed at her.

Schools are closed this week because of a labor dispute between the district and its teachers unions. Parents are concerned that racial incidents are not being taken seriously amid the district’s other challenges.

One parent, Rayvn McCullough, told The Bee that the community needs to rally together. She urged the district and its teachers union to end the strike.

“We need to build community in these uncertain times,” said McCullough. “It is my hope that the school district and (the Sacramento City Teachers Association) come to terms quickly (so) we can resume our fight to confront and interrupt inequities that exist for students.”

Board President, Christina Pritchett said the Board of Education is ‘unified and committed’ to ensuring a learning environment that’s anti-racist and safe for students.

“We fully denounce all racist behavior, and will continue to do whatever we can to support our African-American community members who need to feel welcomed and loved at our schools,” said Pritchett.

This story was originally published March 24, 2022 at 10:49 AM.