Local high school seniors cause a 9/11 uproar

[Puddy]

It doesn't help that they are of Arab descent.

 

Link with a pic of the shirt

 

 

Hundreds attend Dearborn meeting about Twin Towers shirts

By ERIC D. LAWRENCE

FREE PRESS STAFF WRITER

 

A group of Arab-American students who are members of the class of 2011 at Dearborn’s Edsel Ford High School told school officials they were showing pride in their class with their choice of sweatshirts on 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 attacks on the World Trade Center Towers.

 

Along with the words, “You can’t bring us down,” the sweatshirts featured an image of the number 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,” according to an e-mail message sent Monday and today from the district to prominent community groups and individuals. A similar e-mail message explaining the situation was sent to parents and staff on 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 the community forum at Salina Intermediate School, 2623 Salina, tonight.

 

 

Superintendent Brian Whiston and Edsel Ford High School principal Hassane Jaafar were among those who addressed the predominantly Arab-American crowd during the 20-minute meeting.

 

 

Dearborn Public Schools spokesman David Mustonen said the students complied when they were asked to remove the sweatshirts, which they had made over at Gibraltar Trade Center for $25 apiece over holiday break.

 

 

“Kids not thinking, not realizing the consequences of something they thought was pretty innocent,” Mustonen said. “…Their thought was, ‘You can’t bring us down. We’re the class of 2011.’”

 

 

Jennifer Browne, president of the Edsel Ford Parent Teacher Student Association, has a daughter in the same class as the boys who wore the sweatshirts. She said she believes the students were simply trying to promote their class .

 

 

“It’s unfortunate that it came across badly,” she said.

 

 

Michael J. Steinberg, legal director of the American Civil Liberties Union of Michigan, praised the decision by school officials not to punish the students.

[TimC]

It doesn't help that they are of Arab descent.

 

It never does.

[BeeR]

The thing is because they were Arabic, that "can't bring us down" could be taken the wrong way. I understand they didn't mean anything by it, but given their background they should have been smarter about it and understand why it was stopped. Shouldn't be a major thing though.

[TimC]

I just hope they have strong parents that will tell them the truth about their college choice. "Well little Akbar, I don't think that marketing major like you wanted to pursue is the best thing for you" and save them alot of trouble.

[BeeR]

lol

 

More like their major choice. Perhaps a nice computer degree. You even look/sound like you're from overseas and IT corp. America loves ya.