Post-election Trump rallies at Beverly Hills High School (BHHS) have prompted students and staff to speak out about the bigoted speech, targeted harassment, and racist abuse they have experienced on campus. 

During the week of the election, students wearing MAGA merch and carrying Trump flags marched through school hallways and mobbed common areas, screaming and jumping together. They chanted “F— Kamala” – one student can be seen on video celebrating that Trump will “deport all Mexicans,” imitating the racist rhetoric that has typified this election season.

But these rallies weren’t just momentary or spontaneous celebrations – they preceded November 6 and continued every day that week with the same fervor, prompting multiple emails from school and district administrators trying to stem the disruptive behavior. 

On November 5, BHHS Principal Drew Stewart informed students that “while political speech is welcome,” “mob-like” crowds of students “shouting and threatening others, or generally creating an unsafe environment will be stopped immediately.” 

But the rallies continued, leading Stewart to pen a second email on November 7: “Students may not assemble, create moving mobs, or form circles for the purpose of shouting, jumping, and physically contacting others. They also may not assemble with the intent or effect of intimidating, harassing, or displacing other students from where they stand or sit. These types of behaviors have taken place in multiple instances, resulting in students and staff being made to feel unsafe, unwelcome, and in harm’s way at our school. This is unacceptable.”

Initial reports on the rallies de-emphasized Stewart’s point that other students were being harmed by the pro-Trump students, instead suggesting that the central conflict was about the limits of free speech on campus. 

Students on the receiving end of harassment argue the incidents have been misconstrued, even by the district itself. These students paint a more unflattering picture of the school in the days following the election, arguing there is a district-wide pattern of some students being allowed to bully and harass others without consequence. 

On November 12, BHHS Black students and staff reported to the Beverly Hills Unified School District (BHUSD) Board of Education that they had been subject to hate speech and threatening behavior by pro-Trump students following the election.

Bella Ivory, a fashion teacher and administrator of the Black Student Union (BSU), said a large group of pro-Trump students intimidated her and BSU members at school, banging on her classroom door and trying to get inside. Her students panicked and begged her to not open the door, fearing what the students outside would do to them. 

Westside Voice spoke to two high school students at Beverly Hills High about what they experienced during election week. Their names have been changed to protect their privacy and prevent potential retaliation.

“It was dangerous and it was terrifying” on campus, Jiya said. “That whole week, students would run down the halls and call Black students the n-word, and that was normal.”

And that began before the election results were even announced. Once the election was called, things got progressively worse. 

Nia, a Black student at Beverly Hills High, said “Students were warned not to use hate speech or flags,” but students openly and repeatedly defied those warnings. Despite that, the school administration “allowed these mob-like rallies to continue anyway.”

“Racism has been a huge problem in this district my whole life and has been wholly ignored by the district and perpetuated by the parents,” Nia explained.

Nia and her family have been harassed by other BHUSD parents and students since she was a young child. Nia shared a threatening, racist email that was anonymously sent to one of her parents a few years ago. She told Westside Voice the district didn’t fully investigate the email, a pattern of tacitly allowing “disgusting behavior” to continue.

Jiya, who is also Black, said “None of the students that have said the n-word to me or other students have ever had any consequences. And they still do it to this day because they think it’s fine.”

When students reported other students for using hate speech, Jiya said the district would say it was “working on it” but it wouldn’t go anywhere.

Nia and Jiya believe students learn these behaviors from their parents. But both also contend that BHUSD plays a part by allowing bigoted behavior to occur unchallenged. 

“Why would the students stop doing it if no one in the administration is telling them that it’s bad?” Jiya said. 

Nia and Jiya pointed out that a lot of the harm was being perpetuated by another minority group, Persian Jewish students.

“It’s minority on minority hate,” Jiya said. “That’s the worst part for me. You’d think since we’re both minorities we’d come together and support each other.” 

She wants the district to acknowledge the harm done to Black students and others and communicate that widely and clearly. 

Jiya explained the school has taken some productive steps to support Black students since election week. BSU members have had multiple meetings with Principal Stewart and two board members. She wants the district to acknowledge the harm done to Black students and others and communicate that widely and clearly. 

“It feels like they’re actually trying to do something,” Jiya said. “But they waited for it to get to this point. This could’ve been prevented.”

On November 15, BHUSD Superintendent Michael Bregy said “When actions became disruptive, we responded quickly, implementing measures to de-escalate the situation and reestablish a setting where everyone felt comfortable and respected.”

Nia said campus security guards largely ignored what was happening. In one video from election week, a security guard is seen joining the rally. The security guard is standing in the middle of the crowd. He grabs a Trump flag and pumps it in the air. The students around him are ecstatic.

Nia has seen the security guard on campus since then and believes he has not been reprimanded for participating. 

“If they were dressed in normal clothing and not in uniform, you would think that they were part of the rally too,” Nia said. “You wouldn’t think that they were supposed to be protecting other students.” 

Nia compared this to the district’s treatment of Joanie Garratt. A retired teacher at BHUSD, Garratt was filling in as a long-term substitute teacher during election week. She wrote on Facebook that she was “disheartened” that a “MAGA faction” of students harassed and intimidated other students on campus. She said the district fired her for that Facebook post. In a statement provided to Westside Voice, the district said while it couldn’t comment on specific personnel, it could confirm that the district had not fired an employee in the last 30 days. 

BHUSD said the district appropriately responds to hate and harassment. “Actions that are discriminatory or obstructive have and will result in appropriate consequences. Equally, false accusations by students or staff are unacceptable and will be addressed accordingly. We cannot condemn actions that did not occur,” Superintendent Bregy said.

A few weeks after the Trump rallies, students are dealing with the aftershocks. And though the chaos has abated, the hostility has hung around. Jiya and Nia said pro-Trump students have retaliated against students who spoke out, swarming the comments of the school newspaper, mocking students’ experiences of racism, and threatening physical harm against them.

“I still feel uneasy about it,” Jiya said.  “I still see those same kids walking around school…It feels unsafe. If they do something like that again, what is anyone going to do about it?”

Photo by  Glenn Francis, www.PacificProDigital.com, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons