Two volleyball players from Champlin Park High School were suspended for their state game due to a video of them using sensitive language towards African Americans. Students at Champlin protested on Wednesday about the video and how insensitive students are towards African Americans and other ethnicities. That same day during the protest a student put in graffiti on the bathroom wall saying, “I hate black people” and “Black people are stupid”.

Singing along to a song on the bus from a volleyball game, the song has the n-word and two white girls were saying it with no remorse. Students tried to correct them that they should not say the word because of its meaning and the volleyball players plus their peers defended themselves by saying that “You shouldn’t be offended” Later a photo of a girl with makeup on to make herself look black and trolled what it meant to be black. Word spread quickly about what was going on and in conclusion you had one of the largest schools in the state protesting.

This incident has not been the first time where a Minnesota school has been in the news because of racial discrimination. Maple Grove High school had this last year a day after Donald Trump was elected president there was graffiti found in the bathroom that said things such as “#whites­only,” “Trump Train” and “#gobacktoafrica” and many more offensive things that can not be said.

With all the things going on in our society, change can start and it can start with the Totino-Grace community. How is race viewed here and are kids able to have a mature conversation about the topic? Because this is such a large repetitive topic it is important that we can be comfortable being uncomfortable.