Lack of black history events starts dialogue

Treylon “Trey” Cain-Taylor is used to being a lone black face in a sea of white students. Ever since he moved out of Seattle as a young boy, he’s been one of just a handful of students of color at his schools.

So the 16-year-old was accepting of the fact that he was part of a very small minority of students when he started at Lake City High School. But what he isn’t accepting of is the lack of attention Lake City and the other schools he’s attended have given Black History Month in February.

“I don’t think it’s right not to do anything for Black History Month – even if there aren’t a lot of black kids at your school,” Cain-Taylor said.

The Lake City sophomore sent a letter Monday to Principal John Brumley – and the media – expressing concern over the lack of activities.

“Out of all the schools I’ve gone to, the predominantly white Riverside high school outside of Deer Park, Washington, was the only school to give an assembly and have a black speaker talk about what Black History month means,” the letter reads. “Riverside just so happens to be the whitest school I’ve ever gone to.”

The letter discusses the difficulty of being a black student in an almost all-white school and mentions some questions Cain-Taylor has grown used to hearing, such as why his hair looks the way it does and why he doesn’t have an Afro.

It details the fight to expel the white supremacist Aryan Nations from North Idaho and talks about the emergence of awareness about black history that happened in the 1960s.

“I’m not asking for an assembly, maybe just something over the intercom,” Cain-Taylor wrote. “But don’t ignore Black History just because you don’t think that there’s no one who will object.”

Brumley said he wished Cain-Taylor had spoken with him before drafting the letter, because there’s a lot going on at the school in terms of human rights activism that the youth might not know about. But Brumley isn’t critical of the letter.

“I don’t have an issue with the letter at all – that shows courage and initiative on your part,” he told Cain-Taylor.

The letter serves not as a message to just Lake City but as a message to all schools that more can be done to celebrate different cultures and make everyone feel welcomed, Brumley said.

“I think it has a much larger agenda than one high school,” he said.

Cain-Taylor said his intent wasn’t to portray Lake City High as racist. He was just bothered by the lack of acknowledgement Black History Month got at the school and wants to encourage schools and the community to do more.

“I wanted something to get rolling,” Cain-Taylor said.

And from the sounds of it, that’s happened. Student body President and senior Jake Wayman wants to meet with Cain-Taylor, and Brumley plans to introduce the youth to the teacher in charge of the school’s human rights club.

Brumley said cultural activities have always been a part of school activities – there’s just no set schedule for what will happen and when because it depends on who’s in charge of student government and who’s pitching in to help.

Last year during February, students paid tribute to Rosa Parks during the annual Fight for the Fight spirit competition, Brumley said.

“There’s a lot of other stuff, but that’s not the point,” he said to Cain-Taylor. “The point is we can probably build off your letter and do better. … We are only as good as we can be.”

Brumley later said the letter hit a personal note with him because he’s lived in the area for so long and was around for the Aryan Nations and the threats and bombings that went on.

“I think our school is sensitive and works at the issue of human rights,” he said. “If you just read the letter and don’t know the history you’d say ‘Jeez, what is going on here?’ “

Wayman said the student council would love to work with more students and incorporate more of their ideas. All it takes is stepping up and contacting the council, he said.

Scott Klein, vice president of the Key Club, a Lake City community activism organization headed by Wayman, said it’s not that students are racist and don’t want to learn about black history. It’s that so many other activities were going on, and no one stepped up and made Black History Month a priority.

“I wouldn’t know what to do in the community to raise awareness for Black History Month because of my lack of knowledge on the subject, which I guess is kinda his point (in the letter),” Klein said. “He would definitely need to step up.”

And that looks like what will happen. Wayman and Klein hope to meet with Cain-Taylor this week to talk about what possible activities or projects he and the student council could get involved in.

“Really emphasize that we want to get him involved,” Klein said. “The kid is smart, and he has a passion for something. He stepped up and tried to make a change, which is great. He didn’t really blame anybody; he just pointed out that it’s a problem.”