Teens like me just want to feel safe on our CMS campus

https://www.charlotteobserver.com/opinion/article254858217.html


Olympic High students line both sides of Sandy Porter Road in protest outside the school on Oct. 1, 2021 in Charlotte. On Sept. 13, a 15-year-old student was charged with sexual assault of a female student. Another student, a football player, had been accused of assault and told to wear an ankle monitor. The athlete played in a recent football game wearing the monitor. JEFF SINER JSINER@CHARLOTTEOBSERVER.COM

BY SERENITI SIMPSON
OCTOBER 08, 2021

Moving, inspirational, monumental. These words were used to describe a protest Oct. 1 on the Olympic High School campus. It occurred in front of the high school and the dozens of students who participated were demanding a safer environment, not only for females on Olympic’s campus, but for any female on any Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools campus. It was planned as a peaceful protest. I should know, I helped plan it.

Sexual assault is something I have always been passionate about because it affects so many young females and males across the world daily. Sexual assault is always thrown on the back burner and the voices of victims are silenced. No more, no more letting people silence our voices, we will be heard. The protest at Olympic was not only to demand a safer environment on campus, but to let the women whose voices were ripped from them know that we hear them — and we stand with you and will no longer let anyone silence your voice. Every day females walk around in fear of what could happen to them in this crazy world. Why do we have to feel that same fear on our campus as well?

Last week, several Olympic volleyball players were benched due to participating in the Oct. 1 protest. I was one of them. Let me paint this picture for you: After being under criminal investigation for a sexual assault crime, an Olympic football player was able to play in a football game, but the young women who were just pleading to feel safe on campus got punished. No one is saying the player is guilty or innocent, but when something like getting your phone taken away in class can get you benched, why should someone under criminal investigation get to play? After it was announced that the volleyball players would be punished for protesting, I handed in my jersey because I refuse to play for a team or school that punishes its athletes for taking a stand. The fact that the school will punish those who speak out could make others who want to speak out afraid to do so.

Honestly, I think that is the goal — if you can keep these victims’ voices silenced you don’t have to deal with it and then once again sexual assault will be thrown on the back burner. Statements from Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools were released essentially saying that the protest was an infringement of safety. I feel as though having people on campus who harm the female students is a bigger infringement of safety. The administration at Olympic also felt another problem with the protest was that it interrupted a school day. I’m sorry that one 7-hour school day was interrupted, but sexual assault victims’ lives are affected forever.

Yes, words like moving, inspirational and monumental were used to describe the amazing, peaceful protest at Olympic. To see so many people fighting for a cause that I hold deep to my heart was so touching. The fight is not over. We want sexual assault to be talked about more in schools. We want the administrations to listen. We need sexual assault taken more seriously and need precautions put in place to keep females safe on campus. We ask for the support of the community because we are not finished. Our voices will be heard. This is only the beginning to a new and safer future.

Sereniti Simpson is a 16-year-old junior enrolled in the CMS early college program. Her home school is Olympic High School.