'Race' signs hung over high school water fountains

(11/08/07 - KTRK/MISSOURI CITY, TX) (KTRK) -- It's a high school shocker -- water fountains found labeled for "whites" and "colored." Was it an innocent prank? It's a sign of previous times that is stirring up emotion in Fort Bend County.

The handmade signs were only posted on the wall at Hightower High School for a matter of minutes, but many here feel that being posted for only a matter of seconds is far too long.

Fort Bend ISD police took a photo of the water fountains Wednesday afternoon inside Hightower High School. It's something you might expect to see in the 1960s, not 2007.

Two water fountains each had a handwritten sign above. One read "whites" and the other read "colored."

"Anybody would find that offensive," said Alice Gibson, aunt of a Hightower student. "Wouldn't you?"

"It would be interesting to see what was the kid's motivation," said Robert Ina, father of a Hightower student.

Campus police say they caught a 16-year-old student in the act of hanging the signs. School officials sent a letter home to parents on Thursday describing what had happened. The letter also explained that the teen was cited for allegedly committing a class C misdemeanor for disorderly conduct by an offensive gesture.

Nearly 57% of the students at Hightower High School are African American, and so is the student who stands accused of putting the signs on the wall. Some say that doesn't make this act any less offensive.

"A slur is a slur," said Gibson.

Hightower student Nefertari Edwards said, "Some people might have seen it as a joke, but it really wasn't that funny."

These signs come at a time of heightened racial sensitivity, especially because of nooses recently found at Pearland High School and in Jena, Louisiana. Still, some say what happened here does not equate to hate.

Ina said, "I don't think that it was anything to be racially motivated. I think it was just that there's so much of this going on across the country that some kid thought he could get a laugh out of it, probably."

Most everyone here agrees, though, that these signs and what they represent is no laughing matter.

"We all know," Gibson explained. "We all know that we really must be politically correct. No matter what you think, keep it to yourself."

Fort Bend ISD officials say the student wouldn't tell them what his motivation was. He has been suspended from school for three days. If convicted in court, he could be forced to pay a fine of up to $500.
(Copyright © 2007, KTRK-TV)

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