“Holmes is trash.”
“Half of them going to be cutting my grass in five to ten years.”
“Holmes is ghetto and are y’all ready to get that L on Friday?”
Students on social media a few weeks ago saw these comments as the first thing to pop on their feed or timeline. For many, rage and sadness hit knowing that none of these things come close to describing our school.
Even more recently a headline was plastered across KENS5.com and broadcast on the nightly news claiming, “Stores caught in chaos from rampant Holmes HS brawls.” With only a single source and no reference to any specific event, this report again projected an image of Holmes that is far from the reality most students experience on campus. While portions of the KENS5.com article were removed and changed due to their inaccurate or misleading nature, the damage was already done with viewers from across the city seeing images of youtube video fights being displayed as evidence of “chaotic brawls” at Holmes HS,despite the youtube videos referenced being originally posted in 2012 and 2013, and taking place out of sight from the campus. Due to the fact that Holmes is a title one school and has a high school population of predominately Hispanic and Latino students,”ghetto” is the derogatory term-of-choice that students and adults from outside of the community use to classify the school.
Negative stereotypes linked to income, race, and class have become easy targets for reporters needing to file a story and students looking for something to make fun of at a rival school. The social media posts and questionable news reports create a reputation that fuels more of the same, and the students on other campuses take notice.
Warren HS decided to have a “Jinx Holmes Day” during their homecoming week, which traditionally calls for students to dress up with your opponent’s colors to jinx the football game. Despite administrator’s warnings, some took it as a chance to stereotype and represent Holmes as “cholos” and other race and class stereotypes.
“Well with Holmes, I don’t know. You guys kinda have a bad reputation based on what others have said and our actions,” Warren HS freshman John Dinsmore said.
While stereotypes are reinforced for some, other students at Warren HS and elsewhere recognize the trouble with these actions.
“I see it now in a different light. I think it was inappropriate for us to do that because of what is involved in that school and we should’ve thought about it a little bit differently,” Warren Senior Khysha W. said.
Students here on the Holmes campus see a different side, and find positivity in the wake of these public stereotypes.
“Holmes actually became a closer as a family, and I believe that [those not from Holmes] only believe those things because we’ve been here longer,” said Senior Vianey Manjarrez said.
For Manjarrez and other students, being a part of the Holmes community is something they are proud of and thankful about.
“After I graduate, I’ll say it proudly, I’m proud to be a husky and I’m proud that I’m about to graduate from this school. In the future, I would want my kids to come here because it’s a great community. It’s a great family,” Manjarrez said.
Hi, I went to BC class of ’13 and I started my own lawn and home care to help pay for college, I’m actually a kinesiology major, so I guess I’m cutting grass a lot sooner than expected, but I’m now self employed with goals of going further. After hearing about the story about the fights off campus, I wasn’t surprised honestly. NOT because of the stereotypes that plague the HHS/BCHS student body, its just I was aware of it my sophomore year. Still the few times I hear in the news about my school, its negative. When I was attending I had friends competing I national competitions for business, the cheer and dance team competed and was ranked nationally, and so much more. I say this to say I’m hurt and upset the Huskies are only ever talked about when it comes to just the negatives, because most students come from below average income families, the majority of the students are minorities, and we may act or dress a bit differently. Still regardless of all that, I know the HUSKY FIGHT NEVER DIES!