Black Student Union is continuing to fight for a safe place for Black students and to effect change in the MCPS community, especially after a hate speech incident last year.
According to the school’s list of clubs and organizations, the BSU “aims to unify students at Wootton High School through the recognition of Black culture, history, and achievement in an effort to increase awareness in the greater Wootton community about the richness of the diverse student body.”
The club puts a great emphasis on the community aspect, the current efforts being to increase community engagement. Co-Communications officer Israel Peterson said, “Our goals are to increase outreach, get more people involved, and have a fun time.”
The club has meetings and events coming up, including a town hall meeting on Thursday, Oct. 10, a Halloween party, and a mentorship mixer. Events are another integral part of the club, and help create a safe and lighthearted environment for the members.
The club has several leadership positions, but is currently led by Co-Presidents Teemo Taiwo and Leila Khademain, Vice President Chase Mitchell, secretary Temi Ademola, treasurer Charlie Rollins, senior representative Cheta Greg-Ohi, Community Liaison Sedi Gborglah, Restorative Justice Chair Zikora Okeke, Co-Communications officers Skylar Wade and Israel Peterson.
Last year’s hate speech incident occurred on May 15. A student printed a thousand sheets of paper with the n-word on it. After the papers were discovered by a staff member they reported to an administrator, who then failed to submit the 226-5 MCPS hate-bias form. If the administrator had submitted the form directly after being informed of the incident Principal Douglas Nelson could have been informed sooner and started a timely investigation. When information about this incident was provided to the public, the BSU immediately started to go into talks with other staff members and students so that they could properly address the situation.
Instances of racism do not go unchecked in the BSU and are a priority of the BSU to stop. Co- president Teemo Taiwo said, “silence is compliance,” and “not speaking up is allowing these situations to happen.”
In response to the incident the BSU took to their social media page to share a message to the community, stating that this situation would not go unnoticed. The club decided to post on social media about the incident after having conversations with the community, because they thought that social media was the easiest way to reach as many people as possible. Taiwo said “everyone’s on social media and that’s a great way to reach a wide variety of people.”
The club then went to the MCPS Board of Education, to notify the board about the Black students’ experiences with staff and racism in the school and how these situations could be rectified. According to the BSU Instagram page, Club leaders Taiwo, Rollins and Khademian went to the Board of Education to “take matters into their own hands.”
