Redwood school officials discovered racist graffiti spray painted on the school’s Spirit Ball early on the morning of Tuesday, September 20. The racial slurs defacing the historic spirit ball were directed at Assistant Principal LaSandra White, who is African American.

The graffiti was done on Monday night, the 19th of September, and was brought to the attention of school officials by the janitorial staff on Wednesday morning. Redwood students and staff are shocked that something like this would occur on their campus.

“We are all stunned. This doesn’t reflect the school environment at all. Whoever did this needs to be held accountable.” Junior Jack Rousseau said.

On the other hand, some students believe that racism is an unsolved issue at Redwood, and the school has a long way to go to terminate this type of thinking.

“We’ve had a couple racism forums where students discuss racial issues, but we are still far from solving racial issues because most racism is very under the table.” Redwood Senior Aubrey Sine said. Redwood counseling offices are allowing students to come in at anytime  until September 30 to discuss student’s feelings on the crime and how it is affecting the mood of the student body.  

The police are involved with the investigation due to the hateful nature of the writing.

“The statement was hate speech, so the case will be handled as a hate crime.” Central Marin Police Authority Spokesperson Margo Rohrbacher told the Marin IJ.

On a more positive note, Redwood students have responded with an outpouring of support for Assistant Principal White during the days following the crime.

“We decided to fight hate with love and support Ms. White in wake of this terrible crime,” Junior Audrey Peck said. “We all gave her flowers and hugs the next day, something that reflects our school values more so than the racism.”

This crime also affected the Tam community.

“My hope is that we grow from this situation and take time to educate our students regarding respect for other races and cultures. Though this incident did not occur on our campus, I feel that it is close enough that I wanted to address it.” Principal J.C. Farr said in an email to students and parents on September 23. Authorities are still looking for a suspect and urge citizens to alert the Central Marin Police Department of any tips.