Black student says Burnaby schools ‘tone deaf’ on race, calls for police liaisons to be removed

BURNABY (NEWS 1130) – A Grade 11 student at Burnaby North Secondary says she’s endured a lot of racism in her four years there and she wants RCMP liaisons out of schools.

Haleluya Hailu tells NEWS 1130 staff would touch her hair and pretend they didn’t hear it when the N-word was dropped in the hallways.

She says having to endure such behaviour on a daily basis makes her feel defeated.

“My parents are immigrants. They came to Canada wanting to give me a better opportunity. So, it’s kind of just been a thing where, yeah, it sucks when it happens at school and I have to deal with all of this,” Hailu says. “But I feel like I can’t complain because they definitely went through a lot more.”

I’ve been in Burnaby schools my whole life. @burnabyschools is tone deaf and to quote Kanye “doesn’t care about black people.” you need either a more diverse twitter team or to train your staff to not ask about touching my hair so much. 1/?

— haleluya hailu (@haleluyamusic) June 6, 2020

Mounties and their place in schools

The Grade 11 student has also been vocal about having the RCMP removed from school grounds because, despite their intended presence, Hailu says uniformed school liaison officers in bullet proof vests don’t make her feel safe.

“When I first saw a police liaison officer, it just made me uncomfortable just because of being a Black woman. Police just don’t sit well with me. You don’t need to do much research with that,” she explains, adding she’s spoken with black students who interact with the officers daily while white students seem not to notice their presence.

In the midst of international protests against police brutality, the Burnaby School District retweeted a video from the Burnaby RCMP last week featuring school liaison officers welcoming students back to class. However, after receiving backlash online, the video has since been removed.

We’ve chosen to remove yesterday’s youth liaison officer video believing it did not relay our intended message.

— Burnaby RCMP (@BurnabyRCMP) June 5, 2020

“It was just so tone deaf,” Hailu says. “Do they not have any person on their set that’s like, ‘Maybe we should think about this for a second.’ At least the Burnaby School District tried apologizing, even though it wasn’t a very good one.”

Shortly after the video was removed, the school district tweeted, “…we stand firmly in support of human rights, including opposing anti-Black and anti-Indigenous racism, in our schools and communities.”

Hailu says she understands the purpose of school liaison officers but feels they’re “not there for me.”

“Socio economic issues aren’t solved by a badge and a gun,” she says. “Socio economic issues are solved by good community programs that offer access to more industry training programs, more internship programs, things like that to help take kids out of poverty and give them better opportunities to not want to join gangs.”

In a statement to CityNews Vancouver, Burnaby RCMP Chief Superintendent Deanne Burleigh writes, “The Burnaby RCMP school liaison officers consist of a team of police officers who use crime prevention, education and early intervention strategies to create and maintain a safe and caring learning environment.”

The statement explains the RCMP’s video was removed because it didn’t relay the intended message.

Teachers need race training

While she can understand why some students might not feel like speaking out against racist comments or acts, Hailu says when it comes to teachers and staff, she feels it’s “an option” for them to ignore what’s going on.

“Because it’s not like somebody whispering something. It’s people being overt and loud,” Hailu adds.

When it comes to addressing the issue, she believes teacher training can play a role. However, what Hailu would really like to see is more students and members of the community having their voices heard when it comes to solutions.

“There’s not enough student voice in what’s happening in the curriculum and what’s happening with staff training, obviously,” she explains, adding the training shouldn’t be conducted by an existing district employee but rather by someone who has a lot of experience working with Black and minority students from outside.

Hailu has been outspoken on Twitter about what she’s been seeing. She says she’s only received a personal message from one member of the school board, a point she finds “disappointing.”

-With files from Amanda Wawryk