North Central High School is a majority-minority school. This translates into the statistics of about 68% minority enrollment (Black and Brown students) and 32% White students. With a diverse student body comprised of over 45 nationalities and 50 languages, you would think the journalism program would be reflective of that — and that’s what I also believed when I first joined the journalism program. But to my surprise, I joined to be one of four minorities in a class of about thirty.
I noticed that the student journalists often interviewed their friends and reported on stories relevant to themselves. There was a bubble of ignorance, one which hindered our ability from being reflective of the student body we are meant to report for. And worse yet, I felt uncomfortable within the class itself. Terrorist jokes were made shamelessly to my face. The student editors sometimes refused to publish my work without providing any evidence or explanation for why it was not able to be posted.
I endured this treatment for roughly a year and despite my attempts at making a more inclusive environment within the journalist staff and practically begging to have my work posted, it seemed nothing would change the class culture. I was tired, I was discouraged, and I admit I even considered dropping the journalism program — even with all the love I had for the work I did — simply because of how I was treated.
But I had to remind myself that culture doesn’t change overnight. I needed to make our program reflective of our student body for all the underrepresented students and so more minorities would feel encouraged to join the program. At the beginning of my second year with the journalism program, I had a serious and uncomfortable yet neccesary conversation with our teacher.
In addition to speaking to the class about inclusivity, he was responsive and supported my idea to launch a month-long Instagram campaign called “Dear World” where students recalled a time they experienced racism or micro-aggressions and an improvement they wished to see from the world. This was eye-opening to the people in the class who have acted and reported in a bias and hateful manner and refreshing for the student body to see themselves heard. The fun segments only take you so far but when you encourage an environment of understanding you are allowing an environment of success.
It’s safe to say this campaign was a hit that resonated with everyone it made contact with. Even our district’s superintendent sent my journalism teacher a message about how she appreciated this campaign:
Feeling significantly more comfortable in the class, I also began onboarding, recruiting, encouraging, and guiding minority students to join the journalism program. A diverse school can best be represented by a diverse journalism staff.
Throughout the course of those two years, I have advocated for a diversity, equity, and inclusion statement which effectively encompasses all aspects related to our focus on fair and equal reporting. I am proud to say we have a statement on our website which we try to embody through our actions and reporting.
Our diveristy statement, as declared on our website, states, “NCHS Live! and all North Central High School Student Media strive to provide a fair and balanced representation of all cultures represented at school. We are committed to provide content that ethically and accurately reflects our diverse world and empowers others to tell their stories.”
I am proud to be a minority, first generation American serving as the face of NC News and working behind the scenes to empower all the other youth in our building and community.
SALSABIL QADDOURA 