Student Suspended Over Racial Slurs

A senior annual staff member at Westchester High School was suspended this week because of racial slurs printed in the school’s yearbook, it was learned Thursday.

After following up complaints that the yearbook contained disturbing quotes by some seniors--including “Now is the time for 3k! Too many C’s at this school,” apparently referring to the Ku Klux Klan and colored people--Westchester Principal Jim Davis barred the unnamed student from participating in graduation ceremonies, Los Angeles Unified School District officials said.

“The student editors who had checked the yearbook didn’t see the slurs,” said Eva Hain, a district spokesperson.

According to the principal, the epithets were “not obvious” and because the slurs were discovered after the yearbook had been printed and distributed, there was no chance to delete the offensive material. Willis Edwards, president of the Los Angeles chapter of the National Assn. for the Advancement of Colored People, said his organization has filed a complaint with the school board.

“With all the skinhead problems and the racial violence problems going around, it’s too bad the yearbook has been ruined for the kids,” Edwards said. “It’s going to leave a bad mark on these kids at graduation time.”

“Our school is segregated,” charged Cedric Broomfield, a senior who sent a letter of complaint to principal Davis. “There is almost no interaction between students (of different races). Editorials have been written in the paper over the segregation.”