Woman’s post on racism in Utah goes viral in wake of Izzy Tichenor’s death
Nov 18, 2021, 4:01 PM | Updated: Nov 19, 2021, 12:00 pm
One woman’s post on Facebook about racism in Utah is going viral in the wake of the death of Izzy Tichenor. Rev. Dr. Fatimah Salleh, who attended Davis High School, shared some of her own experiences of discrimination here in Utah.
The loss of 10-year-old Izzy Tichenor by suicide is tough for many people to grasp. Especially when family members say she was bullied because of her race and autism and believe Davis school administrators did little to intervene.
“I have this deep grief about it. I’m like, I don’t … I want this to be better,” Salleh said.
Salleh shared an experience that happened at Davis High in the early ’90s on her Facebook. She said the principal questioned whether she still wanted to go through the town parade, despite numerous complaints that she, a black girl, was voted in as the school’s homecoming queen.
She made the original post five years ago in November 2016 in response to discussions she was having with friends at the time around the presidential election.
More recently, this post now has hundreds of shares.
“It was painstaking to write it the first time,” Salleh said. “I really, really kind of labored over every word. And when I was saying things that racism exists, I was almost shocked that they weren’t able to fully move in that conversation with me, in ways that I felt where I could be seen.”
Rev. Dr. Fatimah Salleh, who attended Davis High School, shared some of her own experiences of discrimination here in Utah. (Mike Anderson/KSL TV)
To her surprise, she said people started commenting on and sharing the post again after the death of Izzy Tichenor.
“I think it’s deeply troubling. I don’t even know how to begin,” Salleh said.
Though at the same time, she said it’s important that people are listening, in a time when others may choose to believe racism does not exist … or isn’t a real problem.
“Yes, some of our population get to choose to make that journey, others do not,” Salleh said. “I was born in this skin. I was born this way, and so this for me was not a choice. Never was a choice to be a black woman in America.”
She says now, it’s important for others like Izzy, herself, and her own children, that more people become willing to take those steps and talk about those hard topics.
“We’ve got to begin to move and analyze this systemically, institutionally and how we begin to make this a safer world for people who are vulnerable.”
