Students, officials clash over shirt...School: 9/11 wear was a mistake

[DaemonSeid]

A group of Arab-American students in the class of 2011 at Dearborn's Edsel Ford High told school officials they were showing pride in their class with their choice of sweatshirts Monday.

But school officials disagreed, confiscating the sweatshirts and scheduling meetings with the students and their parents because the images on the sweatshirts referenced the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks on the World Trade Center. Along with the words, "You can't bring us down," the sweatshirts featured the No. 11 as the twin towers with windows included on each digit. The school's mascot, a thunderbird, was flying nearby.

"The whole design gave prominence to the 9/11 tragedy, and of course was very upsetting to staff and students," said an e-mail message sent Monday and Tuesday from the district to local groups and individuals. A similar e-mail message explaining the situation was sent to parents and staff Monday.

School officials said the students didn't realize the sweatshirts would be perceived negatively and would not be punished.

An estimated 300 people attended a public meeting on the topic Tuesday evening at Salina Intermediate School. Superintendent Brian Whiston and Edsel Ford High Principal Hassane Jaafar were among those who addressed the predominantly Arab-American crowd during the 20-minute meeting.


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[Ghostwriter]

It does look like the Thunderbird is about to fly into the 1's or "buildings". At first I thought this was a stupid complaint but now I am not so sure. Maybe they accidentally made it look this way and did not mean it to look as it does. Interesting.

[deepimpact2]

I seem to recall in the wake of 9/11 that this kind of phrase was stated quite often to show that as a country we were not going to bow our heads and that we were a resilient nation that would not be undone by the attacks. I don't see the problem.

Is this a school that has a predominately Arab-American student body?

I just wonder if the response would have been the same if the students were White. I wonder if the response would have been as I stated above and it would have been looked at as patriotic instead of negative.

[AGDee]

This is a school that is probably around half Middle Eastern. I think the students meant it in a patriotic way from all the news coverage here on it, but others were disturbed at the reminder of 9/11 and utilizing this in that way. 9/11 had a huge impact on that community as did the resulting Iraq war. While they had good intentions, it was in poor taste. The article said they aren't being punished.

[RU OX Alum]

hhmmm....

[Kevin]

I have no problem with this.

Some folks will go to great lengths in order to be entitled to butthurt.

[DrPhil]

I dunno. LOL.

[deepimpact2]

Originally Posted by Kevin

I have no problem with this.

Some folks will go to great lengths in order to be entitled to butthurt.

After having worked in the school system, I honestly think sometimes the school officials LIKE to have "situations" like this so they can run around and have meetings and have something to do. The sad part is that while they are wasting time on stuff like this, they are overlooking the numerous students who are selling drugs in the schools and bringing weapons to school.

[VandalSquirrel]

This is why student groups should have an advisor who can gently point out that maybe a t-shirt or sweatshirt design may not be a good decision. If we have them for college groups definitely for high school.

If the shirts didn't display any recognition or relation to the school it would be different but they are clearly referencing a school and class year, and I know with the University I attend we had very clear guidelines for club and group shirts and what wording we could use or logos were acceptable, so a high school should want to do the same.

[ohMycron]

I agree that they probably just didn't think it through. High-schoolers tend not to think about the long-range issues created by their actions.

[PM_Mama00]

Originally Posted by Ghostwriter

It does look like the Thunderbird is about to fly into the 1's or "buildings". At first I thought this was a stupid complaint but now I am not so sure. Maybe they accidentally made it look this way and did not mean it to look as it does. Interesting.

They didn't accidentally make it that way. One of the kids' apologies was this:

Another student told Local 4 the design was made out of frustration over some media portrayals of Arab-Americans in the wake of the Christmas day terror attack.

On a Channel 4 newscast, one kid's "apology" was this:

“I was foolish to do it and I’m very sorry,” said Wadhah Almadhagi, one of the students behind the sweatshirts. “I can promise that as long as I'm in Edsel Ford I'll do my best to ensure something like this, as foolish and naive as this, will never happen again.”

I like that he said "...as long as I'm in Edsel Ford...".

Another's apology on TV was, along the lines of, "If this were a white kid's shirt this wouldn't be happening". I can't find the exact text. I think, good intentions or not, people would get offended no matter who it was. However with the admittance of one of the students that it was made out of frustration, I honestly can't say that I think it was just a stupid teenage mistake. I think they are playing innocent so they don't get in any more trouble. As of right now, no other punishment has been given. I'm also surprised that with them being minors, their parents are allowing them to speak to the media.

Originally Posted by AGDee

This is a school that is probably around half Middle Eastern. I think the students meant it in a patriotic way from all the news coverage here on it, but others were disturbed at the reminder of 9/11 and utilizing this in that way. 9/11 had a huge impact on that community as did the resulting Iraq war. While they had good intentions, it was in poor taste. The article said they aren't being punished.

I think it's more than half now. Alot of East Dearborn residents are now moving to the west side because the east side is becoming more "Detroit". It's a shame because they have some beautiful houses over there that are being trashed now. And Dee, I had to laugh when they said they were made at Gibraltar Trade Center. I think any other shirtery place would raise eyebrows and ask if they were sure they wanted that. Anything goes at GTC lol.

[DaemonSeid]

O boy.

[PM_Mama00]

Originally Posted by DaemonSeid

O boy.

What? With that extra information that the Freep didn't report, you still think they were just trying to promote junior class unity? I think some may have been like "ok cool get me one", but it's fact that at least one of those students didn't think so.

Something else not reported in the Freep article, was that it was 15 Arab American students. If this was HONESTLY to show 2011 class unity, why wasn't the rest of the class involved?

Attack me if you want because some of you are more interested in that than the actual topic, but I'm going off of FACTS and quotes these kids were on TV saying.

http://www.clickondetroit.com/news/22146212/detail.html

[DaemonSeid]

Defensive much?

[PM_Mama00]

Originally Posted by DaemonSeid

Defensive much?

When you're acting like I'm not allowed to post on anything anymore because a select few of you think I'm a KKK supporter, yep. What's with the "oh boy" comment right after my post?