Lately, my posts focus on high school topics, guess it reflects where I've been for awhile. Or my family anyway, we've been a family with high school students since 1996 (12 years!)
My daughter served as president of the Black Student Union at the local high school in 2004-5. I took this picture (no comments on quality) this last Thursday night of a framed picture on a hallway wall during Open House. I assume it features the members of the club this year.
Shorecrest has about 25% minority (non-anglo) students, mostly Asian.
Wait, I can hear you thinking to yourself, your daughter is not black, how can a white girl be the president of the Black Student Union? Adults, especially, have very strong reactions to this fact.....
Ridicule, like I'm joking
Angry, because it's WRONG
Disbelief, I must be making it up
Suspicion, maybe something shady is going on here
This upsets many people, just crosses too many boundaries. I replied something to the effect of "It's fine with the kids, what's your problem"
How it happened....Ilana worked for the school paper and went to the Black Student Union meeting to do an article. Most of the club members were girls from immigrant African families. She found that many of them were her friends already (Eden and Bonami were there, she reported). She became interested in their point of view and discussions. She kept going to meetings, worked on posters, helped put on the Rap Contest, went on some field trips for motivational speakers, etc. At the end of the year, they worked on their goals and they needed a president, she volunteered to be co-president if somebody else would do it too.
There you go. The other co-president lost interest so she served the year. That club puts together the Martin Luther King Day assembly and Ilana and I scrambled to find a gospel choir (we found a great one, they had the kids dancing at 8:30 am).
1 comment:
Hmmm... think that was last year's picture. I know some of those people. You forgot a rather important part of the story: after I graduated the BSU was under constant attack as a nonwhite organization, including some remarks by a well-known teacher. The sad part about that group, was that as long as I was around, they never had that problem because they could point at me, the White girl in group, who was perfectly willing to take that spot. I think it reveals some uncomfortable feelings, even now, with a large group of black people organizing together. Those girls put up with so much I don't even know about.
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