The son of New York Mayor Bill de Blasio has spoken about he claims is the ‘toxic’ racist culture he experienced at the prestigious Brooklyn public school he attended.
Dante De Blasio, who is currently at Yale, graduated from Brooklyn Technical High School, considered one of the most selective high schools in the country.
But in an opinion article for the New York Daily News, he outlines what he said were instances of racism, including a teacher laughing at a black student when she shared her dream of becoming a doctor.
Dante de Blasio, pictured in Germany last year, is now a student at Yale. He graduated from Brooklyn Technical High School in 2015
![New York Mayor Bill de Blasio, right, and his son, Dante, march in the West Indian Day Parade in the Brooklyn, New York](https://i.dailymail.co.uk/i/newpix/2018/06/15/16/4D45613C00000578-5848801-image-a-3_1529075258013.jpg)
New York Mayor Bill de Blasio, right, and his son, Dante, march in the West Indian Day Parade in the Brooklyn, New York
He said white and Asian students used racial slurs to about black students, when teachers ignored a black student’s complaints after he was called the N-word and ‘monkey’ by his peers.
The year after he graduated from Brooklyn Technical High School, the hashtag #BlackinBrooklynTech started appearing is his social media.
Black students and recent alumni used it to share stories of overt acts of racism at the school,’
‘Older Black alumni soon got involved, and they shared many of their own stories at a public meeting with the principal.
‘The current and former students who drove the campaign were sick of having to defend their right to earn an elite education in the face of adversity from the students and faculty meant to support their success.
‘I understood exactly where my fellow Black alumni were coming from. I’d had many of my own experiences. Some of them might seem innocuous.
‘For example, I remember being the only Black kid in many of my classes (something that seemed normal to many of my classmates). However, many experiences displayed the racism which was all too common in the school.
![Brooklyn Technical High School, considered one of the most selective high schools in the country](https://i.dailymail.co.uk/i/newpix/2018/06/15/16/4D45E71E00000578-5848801-image-a-21_1529078378735.jpg)
Brooklyn Technical High School, considered one of the most selective high schools in the country
![Dante De Blasio watches on as his father is sworn in for a second term as mayor at City Hall in New York](https://i.dailymail.co.uk/i/newpix/2018/06/15/16/4D45603E00000578-5848801-image-a-2_1529075201209.jpg)
Dante De Blasio watches on as his father is sworn in for a second term as mayor at City Hall in New York
‘Once, I was sitting near a loud group of white students during lunch when a Black cafeteria worker walked over and asked the group to be quieter.
‘As the cafeteria worker started to walk away, one of the white students asked her friends why the cafeteria worker didn’t “back off and go back to Africa”.’
Much of the blame for the atmosphere he describes can be laid at the door the school’s admission test, which he claimed meant only people of color made up only 15 per cent of the students
‘It seems obvious that a major contributor to the toxic nature of race relations at the school is the simple fact that so few people of color are offered admission,’ said De Blasio.
His father has introduced a plan to change the way students will be chosen for eight of the city’s elite specialized high schools.
Under his proposal, 20 percent of seats at the schools would be reserved for students from under-resourced middle schools who score just below the cutoff score on a standardized test, which is now the sole criterion for entry.