The children of Greenwich’s wealthy often attend private schools. But many upper-middle-class families buy real estate in the community so that they can send their children to Greenwich High School, one of the most academically competitive public schools in the nation. Other kids have parents who work and live in Greenwich – some in housing projects. The result: a student body of 2,200 that’s sure to be tense.
The yearbook message is spread across several pages. At the end of the caption beneath Keith Dianis’s picture is the word “kill.” Patrick Fox ends his with “ALL.” Ed Oberbeck lists “ni.” Robert Texiere uses “gg.” And Aaron Valenti closes with “ERS.” Read the captions in order and the vile message is clear: Kill ALL niggERS. No one noticed the offensive phrase until one of the seniors bragged to friends about getting it published. The boys, all athletes, called the incident a misunderstanding. But principal Eileen Petruzillo suspended each for five days, thus disqualifying them from graduation.
The coded message was only the latest episode of racial conflict at the school, where 19 percent of the students are Asian, Hispanic or black. Last year someone spray-painted a swastika and the phrase KILL Tan SEWS on the back wall of the school. In April a fight between two students in the cafeteria quickly escalated into a brawl among dozens of Hispanics, blacks and Caucasians. Camar Graves, an African-American senior, says that the yearbook message is “in no way representative of our school.” But Keysha Ruperto and other black students were devastated. “How are my kids going to feel when I show them my yearbook and they see how these people felt about us?” she told a reporter.
Still, many at the high school took a public stand against the newest racist episode. Hundreds of students and teachers signed a full-page ad in the Greenwich Time that proclaimed their “shock and disgust.” Says senior Christiana Phillips, “We are interested in representing the school as the 2,000 students who do not agree with the statement. There’s more of a pulling together than a pulling apart.” Administrators also launched an effort to retrieve the 1,400 copies of the yearbook and reprint them without the offensive phrase. Greenwich can easily pay the extra $20,000. But the stain on the community’s image may linger.
