Local High School Celebrates Diversity by Installing Third Water Fountain for Asians

Access to water is no longer a black-and-white issue.

By: Grant Yang

August 23, 2021

A historic leap toward racial harmony was made on Tuesday morning after New Haven’s Woodrow Wilson Memorial High School installed a third water fountain to be used exclusively by its Asian students. In recent months, Wilson Memorial has fallen under criticism for still having two segregated water fountains in 2021, but school officials hope the new fountain will improve things. Located along the main hallway and nestled between the “White” and “Black” fountains, the new addition marks a pivotal dedication of the school toward its Asian population. A small but intimate ribbon-cutting ceremony was hosted by school officials before 1st period to commemorate the new installation. “You could really see the emotional impact this water fountain had on the Asian students as they watched from their designated seating section outside,” said Vice Principal Janice Atkins, shortly after opening the fountain for restricted use.

The road toward Asian inclusion did not come unsolicited, however. Student activists had been petitioning the school for months to install a new separate-but-equal fountain ever since sophomore Michael Qing collapsed from dehydration earlier this fall during his 7th-period biology class. Qing had reportedly sweat profusely chasing down the Minority Bus that morning, but was unable to replenish his body from either the White or Black drinking fountains. This incident led Qing to transfer to Wilson Memorial’s neighboring school, Eastern High, which has been fully integrated for 60 years. Spurned to outshine their rival, Wilson Memorial faculty said they knew they should probably do something.

Conscious of the differences among their students, school officials installed the new water fountain lower than the other two to make drinking more accessible for Asians. During the late summer and early fall, the fountain has been programmed to spray a high-pressured torrent rather than the normal stream to help simulate a monsoon and make the Asian students “feel more at home.”

Some radical Asian students are still dissatisfied, claiming that if they now have somewhere to drink water, they should also have somewhere to pee it out. Sources currently tell us that school officials have no intention of installing an Asian bathroom, citing architectural problems. Regardless of this setback, the water fountain still comes as a welcome addition, ready to be used by the school’s three Asian students.