At the High School a food fight (which can happen at any school) turned into an insane brawl. Now as an alumni of the district, I will say that there have been brawls and gang fights before, but I have never in my twenty-two years on this earth seen anything remotely disturbing as the events of the High School students yesterday. Events as such raise great concern over the direction and leadership of the High School and the district at this defining moment in my communities history.
The finger can be pointed at plenty of people: students, for their imbecilic actions and lack of direction and purpose. Parents, for their apathy, reluctance to take part in their child's education and community as a whole. School officials for being out of touch with the needs of the district, students.(Majority of these people are old and have no direct connection with what the average student is going through or what they need). All of these factors seem to lead to a recipe for disaster.
The media has not made it any better either. With their fabrication and sensationalizing, they have allowed for the negative image to become widespread again. Yet, can you really blame them? To a certain extent, yes. However, many of the students who gave accounts on the story seemed to have an appetite for hyperbole and embellishment. Can you blame them? Not really, most are getting a few minutes on camera and just are saying things that are going to sound good probably. The media thus feeds off of these actions and in turn allows for the negative image to flourish. The students have inadvertently made things worse by their ten-second "claim to fame." What they believe to have been a good deed by making a statement and seeing their face on T.V. actually hurts them in a larger sense because of the negativity surrounding the action. I personally thinks the media loves this and uses this to further exploit such communities. (I am in no way saying that they are the only cause however, because the students are the ones who started the brawls.)
Furthermore, when the school board President gets in front of a camera and makes excuses for the riot such as "we didn't have budget money to pay for resource officers" (school cops) it is also a cause of major concern. If he thinks that excuse is viable and that other things can't be done to ensure the safety of the school children then maybe he should step aside. IF A CHILD DOES NOT FEEL SAFE IN SCHOOL HOW CAN HE/SHE POSSIBLY LEARN??? The lack of substantial leadership is truly disconcerting and something has to be done!
Most people will look at this in two ways. The first will be with some sympathy and proclaim "those poor kids in Hempstead--what a shame!" The second will say "its expected of them to behave like that." I reject both of those assumptions. I, along with plenty of Hempstead graduates are living proof that low expectations are false. Many of the students now don't seem to have direction and it shows with events such as the brawl from yesterday. What must be done to further eradicate the slander and racial media polemics that seem to be ubiquitous every time an event like this comes up?
It is going to take a concerted effort among dedicated individuals i.e. The Talented Tenth to make sure we go back into our community and make sure that the young people are getting all they should be in terms of education and care. Failure to do so will lead to further fragmentation and destruction of my beloved community. Hempstead needs its best and brightest to come back and steer this ship clear of the troubled waters it sails upon. That is our mission and promise. If not, all the success and fame that we may gain will mean nothing and this generation--OUR GENERATION will be surely lost!
Just some thoughts....
Bashir Ali
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