Now, before you make a prejudgment about what happened, as I originally did when I saw the headline on the Fluent News app on my iPhone, check this out
A group of Arab-American high school students were reprimanded for wearing sweatshirts they made which school administrators said “distastefully” referenced the 9/11 terror attack on the World Trade Center.
Eleven boys from Edsel Ford High School’s graduating class of 2011 in Dearborn, Mich., wore hooded sweatshirts to school Monday depicting the numeral 11 with windows drawn on each digit, so they looked like towers. Alongside the towers is a thunderbird, the school’s mascot, flying towards them. The text below the images read “You can’t bring us down.”
“The whole design gave prominence to the 9/11 tragedy, and of course was very upsetting to staff and students,” said Principal Hassane Jaafar in a statement.
School officials said the boys intended the shirts to be displays of class pride and did not understand that they would be perceived as offensive.
“After talking with the students, it became clear that there were no intentions of harm, rather a very inappropriate and distasteful attempt to draw attention to themselves and to the class of 2011,” said Jaafar.
Now, looking at the t-shirt design, I actually have to say I support the students. We often forget that not all Muslims, if, in fact, these students are Muslims (since not every Arab is a Muslim), support the work of the Islamic extremists. When I look at that design, if I see the Twin Towers in them, I see students saying that Islamic jihadis can bring down the towers, but, not America and its People.
Of course, I could be completely wrong, without knowing what was truly in the boys’ heads. What do you think?
“When I look at that design, if I see the Twin Towers in them, I see students saying that Islamic jihadis can bring down the towers, but, not America and its People.”
That was my first thought.
I don’t see how anyone except Islamic Jihadis can be upset by those shirts.
I have no idea what the message of the shirts is supposed to be.
The shirts were made by kids in the class of 2011, so the “11” is understandable. But if we are seeing the twin towers in the design, then what does the diving thunderbird mean?
What does the thunderbird represent? It is the school mascot so does that mean that the school can’t bring the class of 2011 down? The administration can’t bring the class of 2011 down? Are they trying to equate the thunderbird with those who flew planes into the twin towers?
I think if the bird were reversed and flying up, that gives a totally different meaning to the design. If the bird is sitting on the “11” that too is a different meaning to the design.
As it is, even absent of any 9/11 connotation, it appears that the school mascot is attacking what is supposed to be representative of the class of 2011.
That is just a strange message to me given that the sentiment is supposed to be a positive one.
No matter what, the design is horrible and no one thought it through.
Lou, I can see that interpretation, too.
It’s the slogan that completes it to me and makes it positive, not negative.
Let’s not teach these kids that they have to spend their entire lives worrying about ‘offending’ someone’s sensibilities and being PC.
Their message is pretty clear based on the event of September 11th and the slogan underneath.
It could have been much less controversial if they’d left the windows out of the design, but as for the rest it’s apparently meant as a positive message, considering the terrorists wanted to bring us all down, not just the towers. I say who cares. It’s for their graduating class in 2011, and the school mascot is a thunderbird. Case closed.
Good points, folks. It was not well thought out, of course, they’re kids, and, with the state of our public education system, we should not expect much thought out of them.