Student-run group is ‘uKnighted’ against racism
A new student-run anti-racism committee at a Catholic high school in Hamilton hopes to bring conversations about racism to the classroom.
The committee, dubbed uKnighted Against Racism — a reference to the school’s sports teams, the Knights — was created by a group of students, teachers and administrators at St. Thomas More Catholic Secondary School in response to the ongoing racial injustices faced by the BIPOC (Black, Indigenous and people of colour) community and the Black Lives
Matter movement.
“I think it’s so insane that this still a problem in 2021,” said Midhaa Ahmed, 16, a Grade 11 student and one of the group’s leaders. “If you think about if we got rid of racism, how many other problems in the world it would solve.” What began as a conversation among “a couple students” in November has turned into a committee of about 20 students that meets weekly to discuss how students can address issues of racism in school, at home and in their social circles.
“We are very proud to see our students actively engaged in what is clearly a very, very important issue,” said Catholic school board chair Pat Daly.
On Jan. 27, the group will host alumnus Tyrell Vernon, now a basketball coach at St. Francis Xavier University in Antigonish, N.S., as a guest speaker for one of their first virtual events.
“Talking about the issues at hand and bringing awareness to the issues that are going on around the world, that’s kind of really why it’s important for me,” said Dwayne Harvey, a teacher involved with the group. “Being a person of colour, I kind of had to go through some of the stuff that we talk about.”
He said the despite school being remote, the group has garnered a lot of interest.
“I am always in awe every time I log into the meeting just because the students are really running it,” he said. “They’re really opinionated, and they’re really kind of woke on what’s going on in the world.”