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It’s not just Claremont’s Herschel Girls’ High School that has some very tough questions to ask itself, but let’s start there.

On Tuesday, Herschel Girls’ High School posted a black square on its Instagram account, with the hashtag #blackoutTuesday.

Almost immediately, comments started appearing, criticising the school for ‘performance activism’, with many of the comments coming from past pupils who say they experienced racism whilst at the school.

Most of those were deleted from the comments section, but some remain. For example:

In a Facebook post, Sumaya Adams took screenshots of some of those comments before they were deleted:

In response to the backlash, the school posted this to the same Instagram account:

The comments on that post aren’t very complimentary, either. One stands out:

Saddest statement I have read in all my life. All I read was ‘protect our brand image’.

That says a great deal, because it appears as though the problem is being looked at as a PR disaster (hence our choice of headline), rather than being indicative of deep structural problems at the school.

It’s clear and obvious that past pupils feel the school does not treat people of colour with the same respect as white students, and that’s an experience shared by pupils of other schools across Cape Town and the country, too.

For proof of that, you only need to look at the posts on @yousilenceweamplify, an Instagram account with a bio that reads “Herschel deleted all of our comments so here are the screenshots. If you’re an old pupil feel free to comment your experience.”

That they did:

 

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A post shared by We will not be silenced. (@yousilenceweamplify) on Jun 4, 2020 at 1:35pm PDT

Herschel was called out continuously, but what started off as a platform for past students of that school to share their experiences turned into a platform for students of other schools, past and present.

Fill in the gaps yourself, but here’s a past student’s experience at Rh*n*sh G*rls HS 2013-2017:

 

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Anonymous – Rhxnxsh Gxrls HS (2013-2017) #yousilenceweamplify

A post shared by We will not be silenced. (@yousilenceweamplify) on Jun 4, 2020 at 3:36pm PDT

Rondebosch Boys’ High School:

 

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Siyanda – Rxndxbxsch #yousilenceweamplify

A post shared by We will not be silenced. (@yousilenceweamplify) on Jun 4, 2020 at 3:31pm PDT

Here’s one from W*st*rf*rd:

 

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1/2: Anonymous – Wxstxrfxrd (2013-2017) #yousilenceweamplify

A post shared by We will not be silenced. (@yousilenceweamplify) on Jun 4, 2020 at 2:18pm PDT

As you can see, the Southern Suburb schools are being called out in a big way, but the account also featured schools from across the city, and the country.

The list goes on and on, but check out @yousilenceweamplify for yourself – it might prove to be something of an eye-opener.