Senior tradition turned sideways by the burden of inequality

For the graduating class of 2022, March marks the beginning of the end; to celebrate, seniors have assembled together for a game called senior assassins. Senior assassins has been a DGS tradition for several years, and though there have been some issues that have suspended the game in the past, there has now been a recent concern that has gone unnoticed by many students: the game might disproportionately impact people of color (POC).

The event is a non-DGS sanctioned activity, and it is run by three seniors this year: Isabel Bowditch, Max Fido and Alex Soja. Senior assassins requires students to assemble into small groups and “hunt” other groups with Nerf guns. On March 14, the first of approximately six rounds commenced for this year’s graduating class.

Many players of color are not worried about gameplay safety; however, POC historically have an increased likelihood of jeopardizing their safety when playing the game.

During the 2021 senior assassins event, a student of color had the police called on them for stalking their target. Lily Vacek (2021), a senior at the time, recalled when that player of color was initially caught for hiding in their target’s bushes.

“The police got called on someone because the neighbor thought they were holding a real gun. When the police pulled up, they had their guns out and they were told to be removed from the property but it was in the rulebook that you could be in their front yard,” Vacek said.

According to the rulebook, players are prohibited from accessing the target’s enclosed or private property, unless they are permitted by the target. Some establishments have also requested that seniors avoid “shooting their targets” on their property because of the disruption it may cause.

While students of color participate in the games, they experience different challenges than a white player may face during gameplay. DGS student and black participant, Afia Acheampong, shared her perspective.

“There is a burden placed on people of color, specifically Black people. Being seen around a predominantly white neighborhood waving around a fake weapon is seen as a threat to many, and could result in harm to us from the police,” Acheampong said.

By its very nature, senior assassins is a game of outsmarting and outstanding all other teams. However, the line is not easily drawn between personal safety and team victories. Even educators at District 99 are noticing the racial disparities during play; an anonymous teacher shared their concerns associated with the game.

“I get this anxiety that one of our students of color is out in this community with their airsoft gun and someone perceives it to be something other than it is… While that may sound like an extreme, it happens all the time… so how do we make sure we’re protecting all kids while still maintaining a tradition and having fun,” they said.

The game centers around “eliminating” opponents, and the object often used in the game is a water gun. Different elements of the game have different repercussions to the players. Allison Branch, a participant and senior at South, commented on the ways the use of a water gun disproportionately affects her.

“As a white person, people wouldn’t care if I was carrying around a water gun because they wouldn’t perceive me as a threat… I feel like people in this community haven’t been exposed to a lot of different ethnicities and cultures so they just see what the media presents to them and they make their decisions, judgements and biases based off of that,” Branch said.

The community is aware of the event, however, not many white students have knowledge on past play and incidents involved in previous senior classes. An anonymous source shared a raw take on their knowledge about the “new” information.

“I haven’t heard about specific cases, however, that could be because of my privilege as a white person… and while the information is being “sheltered” from us it’s still definitely going on,” they said.

This year, the senior class has their work cut out for them as they maneuver their way through safety concerns for minority players. Senior and event organizer this year, Isabel Bowditch, comments on how players can use intuition to gauge each situation they are in.

“Players should be smart about it [hunting targets]… Don’t do dangerous stuff, it’s just common sense. If you don’t think it’s safe to bring a water gun with you, please don’t do it,” Bowditch said.

The double standard exists in society today, and it occurs in modern-day instances like this. Senior assassins contrasts the blissful innocence white participants hold with the lack of innocence minorities have. The imbalance of concern between marginalized and white individuals is what concerns this year’s game and beyond.