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During the past week, two students and a teacher were suspended from the Cathedral School, among other things after an image of a “Hitler salute” was posted in a class group on Facebook.
For alumni Mimmi and Emma Karim, the suspensions are hardly a huge surprise.
– It was like that when we went there too. It was difficult to achieve a change in the culture because everything was so ingrained in the walls, says Emma.
– So even if students are suspended now, they will still go back to school.
Group of students started
When Mimmi and Emma Karim went to “Katte” between 2015 and 2018, they realized that there was a long line of students in the school who were feeling bad and having a difficult life.
Before their junior and senior year at school, they started a student group: POC, People of Colors.
– We felt that if there were other people, of other ethnicities, who felt as bad as we did, we needed a platform where we could talk and overcome things. Where we could support each other, says Mimmi.
– After we started the group, it became clear that there were a lot of students who had had to go through racism during their schooling.
Mimmi and Emma say that the POC group was welcomed with open arms, especially by the teachers at the school.
But it was difficult to go from one word to another.
– We were supported by the teachers when we started the group. But we weren’t allowed to do any activities, says Mimmi, continuing:
– The very idea of starting the group was well received. But when we put up posters for Black History Month (October), for example, they took them down because they were deemed too aggressive.
I thought about changing schools
Both Mimmi and Emma also went to Ka 0000-skolan in 2015, when three students appeared in a masquerade painted black on their faces, to imitate a racist image.
– It happened during one of our first big parties at school, says Mimmi.
– The boys tried to dress up as “Straight Outta Compton”. But they weren’t suspended because they did. They got nothing.
Emma continues:
– But there were other things too, like people scribbling swastikas in the bathrooms. Even if it was removed, it still showed what opinions some students had and what opinions were in the school.
When Kvällposten interviewed former student Maya Mbog Rosén, she said that sometimes she simply thought about changing schools, to get away from the “hostile culture.”
Thoughts Mimmi and Emma had too.
– During my second and third year, I felt bad and thought about changing. But we have both always felt that we must not give in and that we must stand firm. So we stay, says Emma.
At the same time, other students Kvällsposten spoke to have given a different and more positive picture of student life at Ka 0000-skolan.
After three suspensions for the week, current student Nils Skoog stated:
– Everything is unexpected, there are many intelligent students in the school. This does not reflect “Cat” at all and I hope it doesn’t happen again.
Earlier this weekend, Kvällposten unsuccessfully applied for the director of the Cathedral School, Ingalill Fritzon.
