[B]URLINGTON — Three weeks after Montpelier High School become the first high school in the country to fly a Black Lives Matter flag, students in Burlington raised their own flag on Monday.
The symbol of the struggle against violence and racism toward black people is now flying beneath the U.S. and Vermont flags on the lone campus flagpole at Burlington High School.
Students and staff gathered for a private ceremony at the school’s auditorium before heading outside for the flag raising ceremony. Also in attendance were state representatives and members of the School Board and City Council.
“This is one step toward equality for those who deserve to have a voice in this nation; one step toward peace with our brothers – and sisters,” said Burlington High senior Rivan Calderin.
“We fought for something that means so much to us,” he said.
The Burlington School Board voted unanimously earlier this month to allow to flag to go up for the remainder of the school year. Students must return annually with a new resolution to raise the BLM flag.
Eli Pine, a member of the Social Justice Union student group, which petitioned to raise the flag, said he hoped it would spur a national conversation.
In some ways, the action of Vermont students already has. A white nationalist made headlines with threats to protest against the flag in Montpelier. And national news outlets published articles looking at why students in one of the country’s whitest states were joining the Black Lives Matter movement in such a visible way.
During Monday’s ceremony, Burlington Superintendent Yaw Obeng stood on the stage with the student speakers and praised their push for equality.
“I am incredibly proud of our students for leading this effort,” said Obeng. “For these students, flying the Black Lives Matter flag is not about sending a message of anti-police or anti-authority, it’s a message of anti-bias. It’s a call for change across our nation and in our community.”
Obeng praised the Social Justice Union for “working hard and navigating the school system diligently and respectfully, in a manner better than we sometimes see from adults.”
Raising a BLM flag was also among nine demands made by a University of Vermont administrator who started a hunger strike on Friday because he feels the university and the city need to do more to fight racism.
John Meija, assistant director of student community relations at the university, is demanding increased funding for anti-racist events on campus and other action against “a rising tide of hate speech, acts, and crimes” at the university and in Burlington more broadly, according to a press release about the hunger strike.
“This hunger strike is not happening out of the blue,” it said. “White supremacy and anti-blackness are a clear and present danger to their community and must be responded to and completely rejected without equivocation and without delay.”
Meija stood in front of UVM’s Waterman Building for part of the Presidents Day weekend, but wasn’t there mid-morning Monday.
The Burlington Free Press reported Monday that white supremacist stickers had been posted around the campus of UVM and Saint Michael’s College, some reading “White Privelaged And Proud of It” and “Innocent Lives Matter Not Guilty Ones.”
UVM responded to Meija’s hunger strike in an email, stressing the administration’s ongoing work with students.
“The University has been working with concerned members of our community to address issues students have raised throughout the academic year,” it said. “The safety and wellbeing of members of our community is extremely important. Anything that can compromise and individual’s health is a matter of serious concern.”