CHICAGO (WBBM NEWSRADIO)-- Marist High School officials are investigating allegations of what’s being called a display of racism by some students at the Mount Greenwood neighborhood school’s homecoming dance over the weekend.
Saturday night, hundreds of students attended the school’s homecoming dance, which took place in a field outside.
Latino students would later tell the Chicago Sun-Times that they fear administrators could try to sweep the issue under the rug to protect the school’s reputation and that the Spanish language music protestors booed and jeered while at least one of them made a racist comment involving Mexicans.
About an hour into the dance, the DJ spun a Spanish-language version of Achy Breaky Heart. Video posted on Instagram shows that when Latino students took to the dance floor, a few dozen of their classmates knelt in the center of the floor, apparently in protest.
Elizabeth Pacheco, a Latino student, posted a video of the incident on Instagram with the following written statement.
"You send us emails asking for pictures of our families during Hispanic Heritage Month. You hang up our banners of papel picado throughout the school," she wrote. "If you love our food, ethnic fashion, and energy so much... why do you resent us. How would you like it if we kneeled to your country music?"
The school released its own statement on Instagram addressing the incident. "We respect and foster diversity, equity, and inclusion for all and want every student to succeed by feeling valued, seen, and connected," read the statement.
"We, as a school, promote cultural diversity and are providing professional development on cultural competency for staff and students."
This is apparently not the first time that a racial incident involving Latino students has occurred at Marist.
Pacheco told the Sun-Times that when the predominantly Hispanic kitchen staff started playing Spanish-language music to mark the beginning of National Hispanic Heritage Month on Sept. 15, some white students booed, and one mockingly used what she described as a stereotypical Mexican accent.
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