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What's being done to stop racism and antisemitism in Kansas City-area schools?

The Blue Valley School District hosted a virtual hearing on the district's mask policy Wednesday after the original in-person hearing was postponed because another maskless attendee (not O'Hara) refused to leave. The board ultimately voted to uphold the district's mask requirement.
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Four teens were charged in connection with vandalism at the Blue Valley High School football stadium.

Multiple Kansas City-area schools have reported incidents of racist vandalism and discriminatory comments in recent weeks. "We have to talk about white supremacy being normalized in these districts," says Kansas City Defender founder Ryan Sorrell.

Multiple Kansas City-area schools have experienced cases of derogatory remarks and vandalism directed at minority groups lately.

Four teenagers have been charged in connection with the vandalism of the football stadium's press box at Blue Valley High School.

The boy's basketball team from Paseo Academy of Fine and Performing Arts canceled their scheduled game after being met with racist comments as they unloaded the bus at Richmond High School.

"I think that these are not isolated incidents, " says Ryan Sorrell, founder of The Kansas City Defender. "I think that there are cultural issues that we have to talk about. We have to talk about white supremacy being normalized in these districts."

Mindy Corporan, founder of SevenDays, says these kinds of incidents aren't just spreading in Kansas City schools.

"[T]he youth are you know, screaming out, just radical hate, you know, words to get attention," says Corporan. "[H]ow can we educate them to to have more understanding and more kindness and more grace for people that are not just like them?"

SevenDays, an organization founded by Corporan, works with Kansas City-area youth to promote kindness over hate.

"We are really focusing on putting kindness resources in K-12 schools," says Corporan.

Sorrell and Corporan joined KCUR's Up To Date to discuss recent attacks against minority groups and how organizations are combatting hate.

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When I host Up To Date each morning at 9, my aim is to engage the community in conversations about the Kansas City area’s challenges, hopes and opportunities. I try to ask the questions that listeners want answered about the day’s most pressing issues and provide a place for residents to engage directly with newsmakers. Reach me at steve@kcur.org or on Twitter @stevekraske.
Hannah Cole is an intern with KCUR's Up To Date.
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