Social media message ignites debate about cultural intolerance on the anniversary of Sept. 11
September 11, 2018
A Central student’s anti-immigrant and anti-muslim post to her Instagram story set off a burst of social media activity on Tuesday, the 17th anniversary of the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001.
The post, made during the school day, was quickly shared through screenshots texted among students and posted to social media accounts run by multiple students from Central as well as students from surrounding schools.
Many included their own opinions in response to hers, such as “Nothing like racism on 9/11,” and “This is the last thing we need to see on 9/11.”
Sept. 11 is a day remembered for the terrorism, fear and racism that occurred when two planes crashed into the World Trade Center, one into the Pentagon and the other in a field in Pennsylvania. Led by a group based out of Afghanistan named Al Qaeda, the group consisted of extremist members of the Islamic faith, leading some people to associate terrorism with Muslims.
Although the force behind the 9/11 attacks was not representative of the values of Islam, some still believe that the followers of the Islamic religion inspired the actions taken on 9/11, and this misguided conclusion still exists 17 years later.
Senior Krystal Sanchez was one of the first to re-publish the image on her story.
“Coming from a daughter of an immigrant, it’s really sad to see that I go to school with someone who still thinks like this,” Sanchez said. “It’s 2018, and I feel that it’s not ok to say things like that.”
The post also included “#MakeAmericaGreatAgain,” a hashtag associated with President Donald Trump.
Its inclusion has riled up some student supporters of Trump, who fear they’ll be lumped in with those who agree with the racist comment.
“I was mad,” senior Therese Deutsch said. “I feel like she categorized a lot of the right-leaning Trump supporters into having that opinion, and I don’t share that opinion at all. I think it’s very racist and wrong. I feel that now people at our school will view all right-leaning ideologies as that ideology.”
Other student Trump supporters reached out on social media to publicly disassociate themselves with the sentiment.
Senior Emma Alberico shared the photo on Twitter and wrote: “Although a supporter of the Conservative party, I will NOT side with hate speech. #MAGA is NOT an excuse for your inappropriate and disturbing actions. THINK BEFORE YOU SPEAK. Thank you.”
Although originally shared on Instagram, the post spread to Twitter through a Metea Valley student whose tweet gained over 400 retweets and 600 likes within several hours of the end of the school day.
Before the school day ended, several students, including senior Gabriella Trespalacios, reported that they were approached by one of Central’s deans with a request to remove the inflammatory message from their stories.
“They asked me to take down the post because although [the dean] doesn’t condone what’s being said, [the dean] said the administration will handle it,” Trespalacios said.
Some students believed that the original post needed to be shared as a means of pointing out racial intolerance, but others felt that the retweets and reposts put focus on the student in question, rather than on remembering 9/11 in a respectful way.
Senior Angelena Sichelski took a different approach. She edited the hate speech of the original post into a new one with a more positive message. Now her post is going viral. “I love immigrants & I love muslims,” Sichelski wrote on Instagram. “Remember who committed these acts on 9/11 and that they are not representative of their population. Remember to spread kindness, support, and love on a day that’s remembered for hatred. #neverforget.”
As social media activity surrounding the posts and the comments attached to them continues to expand, some students are now debating the value of retweeting inflammatory messages and wondering how to best address those who post them.
“I think what she said was ill-informed,” senior Christopher Xu said. “However, I don’t think chastising her and belittling her will change her opinion or change the way she feels about this issue. I think what would be productive is criticizing her viewpoint, not her.”
After the post was shared multiple times, the student issued an apology on her Instagram story, writing, “to everyone: I am truly sorry about what I posted earlier. I am sorry that my words were hurtful that was not my intention.”
The Central Times reached out to this student to inquire about her intentions, but has not received a response.
Many students hope that the social media exchange that took place today serves as a reminder that 17 years ago, America was unified during the tragedy.
“I hope people realize it’s not us versus them,” Sichelski said. “We shouldn’t gang up on one person, and one person shouldn’t gang up on a group. 9/11 wasn’t about political parties or xenophobia. It wasn’t about one specific thing. This tragedy that happened 17 years ago happened to everyone and all groups, and the fact that people use this tragedy to cause more division is saddening. I hope that in the future people use this event to talk to each other and reunite instead of leaning back into hatred.”
Laaiba Mahmood contributed to this story.
Rashad Dabney • Oct 15, 2018 at 2:46 pm
This woman is right i’m sorry if you think i’m wrong but if you actually look at it, there were innocent people who had children, wife, Mom, Dad whatever and now if u look back at it they don’t have a father, or a brother, son, uncle, whatever you guys say anything bad about 9/11 just take a look and remember what happened on that day. That’s how I feel and if u wanna talk to me I go to Naperville Central names Rashad Dabney and i’m a senior so come talk to me if you have the sense to do it because i’m right and you know it.
Jimbo • Sep 13, 2018 at 1:32 pm
This young woman is correct. Shame on you for writing this hit piece.
Peter Celauro • Sep 13, 2018 at 9:47 am
As a former Devils’ Advocate reporter, I’m proud to see such high-caliber reporting happening at Central. Excellent work, Ana! Your article was well-researched, well-written, nonpartisan and informative. Thanks for bringing balanced perspectives and much-needed clarity to such a challenging topic.
Lauren • Sep 12, 2018 at 1:28 pm
Thank you for the well-written, well-researched, and very nonpartisan article. I sincerely hope that the girl who posted this understands the gravity and error of her words.
Jack Anderson • Sep 12, 2018 at 1:05 pm
I leave for one year and there are still all these racists about? The last incident that I can recall I can see more so how that was meant to be a joke as it was between friends. Though it was a stupid joke still and I thought getting his face punched in was valid justice. This one the context is she just seems to be posting for all the world to see that she hates muslims and immigrants as it was made public on her IG. I love how they shows no remorce too for what they said “saying that it wasn’t my intention.” When you put an F bomb before each of the groups of people you were calling out. If I were this person who posted, I would issue a REAL Apology to show you actually realize what you did was wrong and hope that people would except you back. If not, oh well.
Ellie Heney • Sep 12, 2018 at 9:39 am
abbey borden rocks quite shameful how some people view others
Christopher Xu • Sep 11, 2018 at 10:42 pm
I do not in anyway agree with anything that was said in the post.
However, I think that it’s important to rise above name calling and inciting hatred towards a student who probably doesn’t know better about Muslim or minority students. I think a discussion about this would be invaluable to preventing things like this happening again.
Claire Yu • Sep 11, 2018 at 10:12 pm
Hello! I like how you included various perspectives, especially the bit about conservative students being against the hate speech, and several students trying to alleviate the situation by re-phrasing the original post. I feel like this serves as a reminder to think before posting on social media; finstas are supposed to be more personal, but they’re not meant to be safe spaces for hateful comments. Thank you for interviewing a diverse group of students. Hopefully the student in question will develop a more in-depth understanding and appreciation for the different cultural identities in our community, and come to terms with the fact that our country would not be where it is today without the contribution of minority groups. 🙂
Braden • Sep 11, 2018 at 9:58 pm
“I am truly sorry about what I posted earlier. I am sorry that my words were hurtful that was not my intention” what are they talking about? The post literally said “f*ck immigrants and f*ck muslims”. How is the intention not to degrade and assault minorities? At the same time, saying “sorry you thought what I sad was hurtful” is even worse. There is 0 remorse in an “apology” of that caliber. It’s a horrible defense for a horrible act.