Parkway Central Student Punished for Pro-Palestinian Political Advocacy
Parkway Central High School suspended Senior Sophia Randolph for six days over their organizing in opposition to Zionism. According to Principal Timothy McCarthy and Assistant Principal Casey Holland, as well as Randolph’s own account, they issued the suspension because Sophia asked multiple students, including Jewish students, to sign a petition which stated, “Zionism is a form of white supremacy“. While soliciting the students, Sophia was wearing a mask that included the phrase “End Zionism by any means necessary”. The administration claimed that the suspension was necessary because they viewed the petition and the mask as “disrespectful speech”.
The Parkway Schools student discipline code is pretty broad and allows for significant subjectivity about what exactly constitutes “Disrespectful Conduct or Speech”. But, based on what the administration itself has said, we know that Randolph is being punished for political speech opposing an ideology whose manifestation in the form of the State of Israel is presently doing an enormous amount of damage to the world.
Randoph’s punishment represents a trend at Parkway Central where Palestinians and supporters of Palestinian rights get punished for expressing their political viewpoints, while supporters of Israel are free to speak as they wish. Simultaneously, Israel continues its campaigns of ethnic cleansing in Gaza, the West Bank, and Lebanon. Even as these internationally-condemned atrocities continue, members of the Parkway Central Jewish Student Union are free to promote trips to Israel and promote the events of St. Louis Friends of Israel.
Meanwhile, Randolph recounts several instances where supporters of Palestinian rights faced harassment and punishment at school. Announcements and letters have been published by the Principal when Jewish Zionist students have gotten offended, but there continues to be relatively little to no action or attention given by the school when Palestinian students face harassment. An example of this problem can be shown with the story of Sadeel Azem, a Palestinian-American student who left the school due to the threats that her brother was receiving. As she had recounted, “At first it began as mocking throughout the hallways, but then it escalated to physical threats to beat him [Sadeel’s brother] up for speaking up about Palestine. Palestine, where we lived half our lives and where our family still lives. My mom reached out to the counselor and asked for a phone call to speak about this matter, and never received a call. She then reached out to the principal and also received no reply. The matter was not taken seriously at all until she communicated that she plans on reaching out to the superintendent.”
Azem and Randolph’s experiences have left several Palestinian students and their supporters uncomfortable and scared. As one Palestinian-American senior said, “The main issue I feel is that I’m unable to fully express my opinion on anything relating to the situation in my country without the risk of losing out on a lot of opportunities. Additionally, I feel that some outside of my circle of companions would be a lot more hostile if they knew my views about hoping the conflict would end peacefully.”
Randoph sees a trend where Zionist students are allowed to intimidate classmates, such as Azem and themself, at Parkway Central. Meanwhile, they receive punishment for offending Zionist students. It appears that Parkway Central is applying a double standard, with the school administration choosing a side. As Azem said, “I’m sure if the tables were turned and my brother was the one making threats, that would have been acted on immediately.”
This article was written with extensive input and assistance from Sophia Randolph. They are a Senior at Parkway Central High School who cares deeply about equality. They are a jack-of-all-trades when it comes to self-expression and are loud and proud about it (even if some don’t like it). Also, they really like brownies.
