AASA Members Say They Face Challlenges

The African American Student Association (better known as the AASA) is a well renowned club at the Park. It is one amongst several clubs at P­CEP that is about a specific race or culture.

Every Thursday, nearly 20 students gather in the Salem High School library where they discuss and break down topics that all have to do with African Americans across the globe. The former treasurer, Canton senior Terrill Malone said, “I think it is so important for the African American youth to be involved in clubs like this because we are the next generation, and it is time for us to educate ourselves on our culture and to take a stand against what is wrong. With us collaborating on ideas such as those is what makes us such a strong group of students.”

Just like any other club at the Park, the AASA designed a t-shirt for its members to purchase to represent the group. The front of the shirt is a spin off from a popular brand called Enjoy Detroit, but it instead reads

“Enjoy AASA.” The back represents a list of all of the black men and women who have been killed due to police brutality since Oct. 1, 2016. At the end of the list, it simply says, “Who’s next?”

The members of the club thought that the shirt would be a learning experience to bring awareness to police brutality in the black community, but the three principals at the Park wanted to have a meeting with the AASA board and the club’s two advisors.

Hal Heard III, Canton principal said in an interview, “I didn’t have any concerns with what the shirt read. The three of us [principals] go through this process with every club here at the Park when they are in the process of getting their shirts approved.”

Canton senior and AASA vice president Pheven Dereje said, “The meeting that they had with us lasted from first to fifth hour.” Dereje said that of course they didn’t discuss solely a shirt for over half of the school day, but that she and the other members of the AASA board took the time to educate and tell the administrators why it is so important to bring light to such a sensitive topic.

Malone said, “They [the principals] were ultimately concerned with the statement of ‘who’s next’ on the shirt because they feared that the saying came off as us being anti­police.” This is a common concern because some Black Lives Matter advocates have been known for shunning the police force as a whole, but that was not the case in this situation.

“The shirt raised concern for Mrs. Steckel (Plymouth principal) because her husband is a police officer, but after we explained that we don’t think all cops are bad, she had a better understanding,” said Dereje.

The AASA also put on a show, and the show coordinator, Canton senior Tabitha Irby, said that she, amongst her other colleagues, found themselves often conflicted as to what acts to put in the show. “We knew that the show would probably stir up controversy, but there were a lot of acts that we had to either cut out or alter because the content wasn’t school appropriate,” said Irby.

Though the students felt that they were at a disadvantage, the club advisors felt that they received fair treatment. Salem English teacher Gretchen

Miller explained that the producing of the show was an easy process. Co­ club advisor and Salem World History teacher Paul Vaughn concurred with what Miller said.

In the face of adversity, the club members felt different from their advisors. AASA president and Canton senior Alex Hayes said, “With having problems getting our t-shirt approved to having to water down our show, I feel like it’s harder for a club like this to get stuff done, unfortunately, because so much controversy follows our race.”