Putting The “Vice” In “Vice Principal”

(I am in my animation class during a recess break and want to show my teacher a new video from a 3D animator I like. This teacher is very lax about students using computers in the classroom to work, research, or play games.)

Me: “Hey, [Teacher], check out this new video [Animator] put out!”

Teacher: “Oh, wow, this looks pretty interesting.” *another student calls for assistance* “Keep it playing; let me go help someone really quick.”

(My teacher goes to the front of the room to help someone else. I am in the middle rows, and at the back rows are several boys gathered around, playing some form of Grand Theft Auto. At this time, I am the only Asian student in the room. The vice principal walks into the room and goes around the back, looking over all students’ shoulders at their screens, and immediately comes up to me.)

Vice-Principal: “What do you think you’re doing? Do you think this sort of thing is appropriate for class?” *rips out my flash drive from the computer* “Give me that! I’ll be confiscating this thing and examining everything on this. You should know better.”

(The vice principal left without even checking or making note of my name to keep with my drive. My teacher wasn’t even aware that the vice principal had come in, and when I told him what happened he was just as confused as I was. He even asked the group of boys playing GTA if they got in trouble, and they said no. A week later my teacher managed to talk to the vice principal and get my flash drive back. All he could tell me was that the vice principal said, “Sorry, I was in a bad mood.” Over the next three years of high school I learned that particular vice principal was very racist towards Asian students. Even when he noticed multiple students “breaking rules,” like wearing hats or using earphones, he only confiscated things from Asian students. Two students were standing side by side, both clearly wearing earphones, but only the Asian student was reprimanded. If any student was to try to reclaim their items at the end of the week, there was no further security to make sure they got their own item back. If you lost expensive earphones, guess what? Earphones are earphones; take one and leave. This is the same vice principal that accused me of doing cocaine because I had long nails!)