Santa Barbara High School students and alumni were outraged last week after student government announced that this Saturday night’s homecoming dance theme would be “Jungle Fever,” a derogatory term used to describe a nonblack person’s attraction to a black person. On Friday morning, Associated Student Body President Ben Zevallos announced over the campus loudspeaker that they were dropping the word “fever” from the event title and instead making it “Jungle: Welcome to the Wild.”
“[S]tudent organizers and staff were unaware that, for some, ‘Jungle Fever’ has a derogatory or negative connotation associated with interracial dating,” Zevallos said, adding that ASB voted on a “Jungle” theme, which morphed into “Jungle Fever” “during the creative process.”
Few expressed frustration on campus, students said, but indignation appeared to a higher degree on social media. The term “Jungle Fever” is used to dehumanize black people, “playing into the stereotype that they are subhuman, savage, and uncivilized,” alum Miranda Vasquez said in a Facebook post. “It might be easier to just turn a blind eye, get dressed up and enjoy the night, but as allies to the black community, it is our job to call out the anti-blackness we see around us.”