A blue pickup affixed with two Confederate flag decals roared through the DeKalb High School parking lot Friday afternoon.

Taneisha Naylor, a black DHS freshman, noting the blue pickup truck often seen at the high school, said racism against blacks occurs a lot at DHS.

Naylor’s observations are at the heart of a racism controversy at DHS.

DHS sophomore Eric Jorgenson, a white student, and Naylor said the controversy surrounds a black student newsletter circulated at the school Sept. 24 and its call to other black students to “act black.”

School administrators at DHS, 1515 S. Fourth St., suspended five students for five days for creating and disseminating what administrators deemed a racially charged publication, said Karen Wilkerson, an attorney representing several disciplined students.

The suspensions resulted in both black and white students and parents protesting at school board meetings.

DHS established a panel to examine racial tensions at the school in response to the controversy. DHS principal Larry Stinson asked Larry Bolles, director of NIU’s University Judicial Office, to help mediate the panel.

“There will be a meeting regarding the panel as decisions are made. Dr. Bolles and I are in the process of putting the details together,” Stinson said.

Bolles had no comment.

Students at DHS had mixed reactions to the recent controversy.

Adonis Lee, a black DHS freshman, said black students are acutely aware of racial tensions.

“People say racist stuff to us all the time,” he said.

Naydja Bruton, a black DHS sophomore, said the publication was meant as a joke. Bruton said she thought the race panel represented an overreaction.

“I think it’s dumb,” she said.

Some white students doubted the need for the panel and the existence of race issues.

“It’s unnecessary to preach to us about something that doesn’t exist,” Jorgenson said. “I don’t notice any racial tension at all.”

Jorgenson said he thought the controversy was something created by the administration.

DHS junior Dustin Hagemeier, a white student, said, “I think they’re blowing it out of proportion.”

Students also had their own ideas about who should comprise the panel.

“It should be professionals that have experience dealing with it,” Hagemeier said.

Other students said the panel should include professionals, but students had a role to play also.

“Students know where students come from,” Bruton said.