10-11 at Thurgood Marshall

Eyewitness accounts by a student and her mother

On Friday at Thurgood Marshall Academic High School, an incident occurred that shocked many students and teachers and enraged and appalled parents. This is the first hand account of a senior at TMAHS and what she witnessed and experienced during that incident, and the experience of her mother while trying to get to her daughter. The incident is yet another example of the injustices perpetrated on African Americans and other minorities in this community. - Loretta S. Wilcher

Student’s account

by Jamie A.W. Redmond

In the morning around 9:30 a.m. there was a fight with an African American boy and about fifteen Asians, some of whom did not attend the school. The African American boy had a problem with one of the Asian boys, and the Asian boy who does attend the school confronted the African American, who tried to walk away. Before he could, the Asians jumped on him.

I was an eyewitness to all of this. Some of the administrators of the school came outside and separated the boys. They then took them into the office to contact their parents. The African American’s mother could not be contacted at the time, so they contacted his brother, who was also on the emergency card and is over 18 years of age. This was all going on during second period.

When second period ended, that is when the African American boy’s brother arrived with his cousin. When he saw his brother, he pointed out the Asians who had jumped on him. His brother then asked the Asian boy what had happened. The Asian pulled a pipe from his backpack and hit the boy’s brother in the head with it. At this time there were many students in the hallway because it was passing period to go to Advisory. After his brother was struck in the head with the pipe, all the Asians started up another fight in the hallway in front of the office.

There are two police officers who are always on duty at the school. One male and one female officer. The police officers could not control the fight, so the female called for backup. There were also security guards who are employed at the school trying to stop the fight. The principal peeked her head outside of her office, and called the police as well.

About three minutes passed and then about 30 police officers came marching in through both entrances of the school. There were two groups of people - a group of Asians, and another group mixed with African Americans and other races. The police immediately came toward the African Americans and started hitting us with billy clubs (batons) and handcuffing innocent people who were not even involved in anything, simply trying to go to their classes. They slammed students up against lockers, put guns to students’ heads, and handcuffed innocent people. There were many people who got hit with batons. I personally got hit with a baton.

A teacher, Anthony Peebles, was recording everything going on, and he videotaped the police doing some real unjust things. He witnessed an officer pulling a girl’s hair and calling her a bitch. Mr. Peebles tried to get the police officer to stop. The police then took Mr. Peebles’ camera and handcuffed him. He was arrested for nothing. The officer said he was violating some type of code for recording what was going on. The police then started recording the students going crazy as a result of their teacher’s arrest. The police just wanted to hide the truth from the eyes of the people.

The African American boy stated that while he and his brother were in the office, he was getting abused by the officers. The police were kicking him. One officer socked him in his face. The boy said he “did not get jumped once, but twice. Once by the Asians, and once again by the police in the office.”

While this was happening in the office, outside in front of the school the police were making students leave the premises, stating that the school was going to be shut down and that we were supposed to leave and go home. Students were very confused because the principal came outside and told the students to go to class. The principal then went back inside the school and pulled the fire alarm on the first floor.

This caused way more problems. The police then started to force the students in front of the school to go down the hill on Conkling Avenue. Once the students reached the bottom and got to Silver, they were all standing in a big group. The police were pushing students and using excessive force, telling them to go home. This caused the students to get angry, so another fight started up in the crowd. People started running down Silver and the police started chasing them.

A couple minutes later a SWAT team in full gear came marching up the street with their billy clubs in their hands like it was actual war. There were helicopters in the air, news cameras everywhere, and parents looking for their children in despair.

To me this was just a simple problem which could have been resolved before it escalated like this. Personally, I feel that the police exacerbated the problem by coming in doing what they did because they caused students to get angry and even more distraught and they didn’t know how to react to the situation at hand. How would you feel if you were walking on your way to class and the police came and hit you in your face with a billie club? This was surely an act of injustice which needs to be resolved quickly.

This situation definitely would not have happened if the school’s former principal, Dr. Samuel O. Butscher, Ph.D, were still in charge. He was a real leader in the school and had control over the students. I am a senior at TMAHS, and within my three years of attending the school, nothing like this has ever happened. The new principal and other new administrators just aren’t qualified to work with urban lifestyle students, and Dr. Butcher was.

The school cannot be run by police, because as of now, the youth of this school have no love to show for them. Students cannot place trust in police presence after this incident. Students are now afraid to attend school for fear of being harassed and assaulted by police. This is a situation that will go down in TMAHS history forever.

Parent’s account

by Loretta S. Wilcher

On Friday morning at approximately 11:00 a.m., I was contacted via two-way pager by my daughter, a senior at the school, informing me there was a riot going on at school. Because I was at work at the Department of Justice in the Civic Center, where an anti-war protest was taking place across the street at the Federal Building, I contacted my husband to ask that he go to the school and assess the situation to make sure our daughter was okay. He was able to get there faster because he was in the area.

What he witnessed when he arrived was a shocking surprise. There was total chaos. He called me on his cell phone and all I could hear in the background was young people crying and screaming as if in pain. It was a frightening sound for a parent to hear. I then left work to go to the school.

After searching for a while, my husband found my daughter crying hysterically. She had been hit in the arm with a police officer’s billy club while trying to go to her next class during passing period. She was in pain from being hit and also emotionally distraught from seeing her friends assaulted and everything she had witnessed that morning. My husband and I were not made aware that she had been hit until after I got there.

In route to the school, I was in constant contact with my husband, who advised me of what he was seeing being done to children and the unnecessary force being used. He informed me which direction I should come from because the police had the streets blocked off. Upon my arrival, I was shocked and just couldn’t believe what I was seeing. I approached Silver from Palou Avenue and was unable to drive past Quesada due to a barricade. Once there, I identified myself to the officers and told them I was there to pick up my child. I inquired what would be the best way to accomplish that. I was told politely to park my vehicle and walk up to the school.

When I began walking up Silver toward the school, I felt like I was in a war zone on a street I use daily. There were police everywhere, helicopters flying back and forth, with crying, screaming and bewildered children wandering around wondering, as I was, what in the world was going on. I saw one of my young church members crying and asked if she was all right. She screamed “NO, how can I be all right with all of this going on?” I felt totally helpless. A child should never feel that way.

As I continued toward Thomas, I was then approached by a line of riot-geared police officers marching down the hill. I wondered why they were going toward those children in that manner. None of the children I had just passed represented a threat of any kind to anyone. I was soon to receive some of the same type of treatment they had already been inflicting on the children.

I was then stopped in my tracks by a stick being shoved into my abdomen and an officer rudely telling me to go back the way I came. I calmly explained to him that I am a parent who lived in the area and was there to see my child home safely. He told me I would not be allowed to do so and had better go back and began shoving harder. At that moment, a female officer who knew me from visiting the school and from conversations we had in the past intercepted.

She told the officer with the stick in my abdomen my name and informed him that I lived in the immediate area and should be allowed to pick up my child. Had it not been for her, I probably would have been beaten as well. I definitely felt that I was in danger. He then let me through, but only after she told him the same exact thing I was telling him when he began shoving me in the abdomen with his stick unnecessarily.

Upon reflection, it appears I was interfering with the SFPD’s agenda, which was not conducive to the safety of the students at Thurgood Marshall Academic High School. Once I was allowed to continue on, I soon found my family and we began watching the abominations together in horror and trying to calm down students and reassure them that everything was going to be all right whenever we could. It was a nightmare.

Later that evening, at approximately 7:15 p.m., I received a recorded voicemail message from the school that gave a false and misleading account of the events which had taken place at the school that day. If I had not been there personally, I would have relied on what I heard, which makes me think they have probably been less than honest in the past. The message was as follows:

“Good afternoon. On behalf of the principal of TMAHS, I am calling to make an important announcement. I am calling to report an incident that occurred this morning on campus. There was an altercation that involved four Marshall students and 10 outsiders. There were no weapons involved and there were no serious injuries. This fight was stopped and the students involved were separated and taken to the principal’s and to the dean’s offices. Parents of the students involved were called to come and to pick them up. An adult who accompanied a family member to pick up one of the students involved in the earlier altercation got into a fight with another student in the hallway. The fight escalated as it was passing time in the hallway. The school resource officer called for backup. An unknown party pulled the fire alarm. The police arrived into a confused state as other fire alarms were triggered. The police released some students from school. Another incidence of fighting also occurred on Thomas Street. There were students that did remain in class during the incident. A decision was made that students would be released to parents and guardians to pick them up. The SF Unified School District has begun investigating the incident. There is no school on Monday, Oct. 14, because of the Columbus Day holiday. Please note that there will be another message this weekend. It is important that you check your messages. Please know that the safety of our students and staff is our primary concern. To hear this message again, please press the * button on your telephone. Thank you very much.”

The issues which came to my mind are as follows:

Why were 1,100 students let off the school premises without any notification to parents in the first place to wander aimlessly on the streets of San Francisco?

Why were there no emergency procedures in place?

What was the “administrators” of the school doing when the police were assaulting the students, and when the original assault with the pipe which precipitated the fighting happened?

Why were individuals who did not attend the school on the premises and able to attack a student who was attempting to go to class? Where was the security?

I am one parent who does not intend to send my child back into a dysfunctional, unsafe environment until these and other serious issues have been adequately addressed and some accountability has been established. I believe our children have a right to a quality education in a safe environment. Not only safe from outsiders, but also safe from law enforcement officers who are supposed to serve and protect them.

I know I am not alone in these feelings, and as parents we need to ensure this is accomplished by working together with our children and their teachers, and in conjunction with the school district and administrators. Our children are the most precious and valuable resources we possess. They are our future.