The Brave News

by RJ Johnson

Discussion of a Black Student Union on St. John Bosco’s campus has been up for several years, on and off with no one truly taking initiation to get the club started.

With St. John Bosco being such a diverse community and rich in cultural clubs such as Filipino Club, Spanish Culture Club and more, a club to represent African-American culture and pride seemed to be missing.

St. John Bosco senior students Parker Grey and Cole Grey have taken the role of getting a BSU started here on campus.

“I think it will definitely bring a better understanding of everyone’s culture at the school, because it’s such a diverse community as it is, also while treating our differences as a positive instead of a negative,” said Cole Grey.

What Cole believes is important, as he stresses that true social acceptance is better than just tolerance alone.

Today’s society is built around this acceptance, and places where it is absent are the places humans struggle the most. From lack of acceptance grows ignorance that a Black Student Union could help rid within the student body.

“I saw that the Brave community in general doesn’t know how it feels to be an African-American in today’s society, and there are people uneducated on the topic of the struggles they go through,” said Parker Grey.

What Parker is alluding to are the injustices done against the African-American Community, in the past and still in the present. Racial discrimination, police killings, and lack of respect for culture along with the expectation that African-Americans are supposed to just conform to prejudice standards.

These injustices aren’t only done to African-Americans, but a high percentage of minorities across America. 235 total Black and Hispanic people have been shot this year without reason besides potentially being armed. This number makes up 32 percent of police shootings total, which is alarming when Blacks and Hispanics combined make up just 29 percent of the US population.

Not only are African-American and Hispanic youth in jeopardy of being shot and killed by police, but according to the Department of Education students of these races are arrested far more often than their peers and classmates of different color.

The Department of Education’s data showed that 96,000 students were arrested and 242,000 referred to law enforcement total over the past year. Out of those students, Black and Hispanic students accounted for more than 70 percent of the students arrested or referred.

These statistics horrify parents that are minorities because of the fear and high chance that their child could end up being apart of this number. Many Hispanic and Black are generally afraid to give their children the liberties and freedom they are supposed to enjoy due to the risk out there.

When are the injustices supposed to stop? More protests spring up to counter the voice and the concerns youth are supposed to have.

The “All Lives Matter” movement came months after the start of the “Black Lives Matter” protest, with members trying to combat the “selfish” mindset behind the Black Lives Matter struggle.

Black Lives Matter is not trying to tell the world that only black lives matter, or that black lives matter more than others. The main purpose is to reach for equality, telling people that black lives matter too.

Not all who have come across the issue take time to understand it in this light. Because of this, the All Lives Matter movement appears truly insensitive and ignorant to all of the issues that Black Lives Matter is trying to present.

Black Lives Matter is fighting for true equality, while All Lives Matter already believes that they have that. This has caused plenty of confusion, splitting our country apart in several ways.

People are forced to pick a side, judging what is to be fair and unfair for both of the groups. This is an argument that sees itself in schools, offices, and workplaces all across America.

The Black Student Union is an extension of the Black Lives Matter movement, working for the understanding of true equality amongst all different races in America to St. John Bosco High School students.