Although it may sound weird to others whenever they hear or see that there is racism going on-especially in a small town like Pahrump-but whether or not you believe it, it does happen and it happens to people who can’t or don’t want to say anything about what is happening to them. Racism can happen to anyone, it doesn’t matter the age or gender that you are because you could experience racism even if you feel as if you have not or you may have even taken the said racism as a joke or didn’t acknowledge the comments or jokes that were made but some students feel as if they have experienced racism both here in the town of Pahrump and in PVHS. 

A quick mini survey was recently made and answered by the students of PVHS about the town they live in and about 57.1% feel as if they have experienced racism in the town of Pahrump while 47.6% feel as if they have not experienced racism in town. 57.1% said that they would experience racism from strangers and they would explain how they would feel confused since they were not doing anything or not bothering anyone. The issues would happen to them either out in public, at a store, or a restaurant, and some of the students said that they would defend themselves but some said that they wouldn’t defend themselves since they were either alone or they even felt embarrassed/uncomfortable since it would be in public and it would sometimes cause a scene.  

There was a question that asked if the students of PVHS felt as if they had experienced racism at our school and around 52.4% of the students who took the poll had answered Yes, they have experienced it while 47.6% answered No, they haven’t experienced it. The results also showed who they would experience racism from and some of the students would explain how the racism would happen to not only them but to other friends that attended PVHS.

About 33.3% of the students experienced racism from their own classmates in their classes or they would experience it from students that they didn’t know or students from another grade. Students who experienced racism were not sure whether they should have reported it or not because they felt as if their teachers wouldn’t do anything about it or they felt as if the issue wouldn’t be resolved. About 23.8% of the students who took the survey answered that they experienced racism from a teacher at PVHS.

Most of the students who took the survey didn’t explain much of how the racism happened/occurred but an anonymous source stated: “One day my mom and I were picking up my sister from PVHS and I had waited in my car and my mom comes backs with my sister and my mom just starts ranting to me about how rude and racist staff was being towards her”. The source doesn’t go much into detail other than that their mom who experienced the racism was very upset and had also said that it isn’t the first time something like this has happened to them at the school.

There was another incident where they picked up the same sibling and the other parent experienced racism this time, the parent stated that they were asked multiple times by the front office to view their ID and the parent stated “It was almost as if they were trying to believe if it was real or not”, the parent had also said that the people in the front office were behaving rudely with them, they had said that the office people would give them attitude.

The parent also stated that there was a non-colored family that walked in to check out a student and the parent also said that they were not asked to view their ID and that the people at the front desk were behaving nicely with the family. “It was unbelievable how they weren’t asked to show their ID but I had to show mine multiple times” stated the parent. When asked why they haven’t reported anything the parent shook their head and wouldn’t answer the question. 

“Nye County School District (NCSD) does not discriminate on the basis of race, color, religion, national origin, ancestry, disability, age, marital status, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, or any other category protected by applicable state or federal law in its program and activity”. The Non-Discrimination Statement Equal Educational Opportunity made this statement and it means that under no circumstances should a student/staff member have to suffer racism from anyone inside the school. It shouldn’t just only be made for the staff/students but it should also be for the families of the staff and students because they are also just as important as they are and they should not have to experience racism, especially in a place where it is meant for students to learn and for the teachers to teach. 

If you or anyone that you know have experienced racism or anything else in your school, please reach out to SafeVoice at 1-833-216-SAFE (7233) because you are never alone and should never have to experience something as horrible as racism in your school. Please do not be afraid to speak up about it, tell a trusted adult/family member to report if anything ever happens to you inside your school.