A Sad Situation At My Old High School
I am a graduate of Winston Churchill High School in Potomac, Maryland. It is a rather prestigious public school. Always ranked as one of the top high schools in the district... and the district is always ranked as one of the top in the country. At the time I attended, something like 95% of the graduates went on to some kind of college program. You know the old tv show "Beverly Hills 90210"? The creator of that show was a graduate of Churchill, and the show was loosely based on our school.
I was one of the less brilliant students -- I only went on to the state University. My classmates were regularly going to Harvard, Yale, Stanford, University of Pennsylvania, and other top ranked schools. Many of my old friends are now doctors, lawyers, and University professors and administrators.
It was a wonderful school.
But don't think that we were totally sheltered from the outside world. We weren't. Although most of the students were from very fortunate families, there were some who weren't. For within the boundaries for the school were several communities made up of the descendants of former slaves.
One of these communities is called Scotland. How it got the name, I don't know. But it started in 1880 when a former slave, William Dove, bought 36 acres of land at auction. Over the years, the community fell in to disrepair, and in the 1960's, an agreement was made whereby in exchange for some of the land to create a regional park, 100+ new units would be built for the residents of Scotland.
Those homes still stand today.
At the time I was in high school, the community was still populated by a large number of descendants of William Dove. The community was well-kept (I drove through there several times.) I remember the moms of Scotland in the stands at the football games -- always the best cheerleaders of all. They loved their kids, and supported them immensely.
But in recent months, there have been some incidents at Churchill, apparently involving students from Scotland. Most recently was a "brawl" involving 6 male students, resulting in 5 arrests. Apparently the brawl was part of an ongoing dispute between a former boyfriend and girlfriend. The Principal of the school, Joan C. Benz, sent home a memo to all parents regarding the incidents. Benz described the string of incidents that had occurred during the past couple of months as "Black-on-Black violence." Now Benz is being disciplined for her racially insensitive comments.
I hate seeing all this going on. I remember an occasional fight at school when I was growing up. It never made The Washington Post. Why is it that when it is a group of boys from Scotland, it is suddenly front-page Metro-section news?
Why is it that when a group of young black men fight, it is called "black-on-black violence", but when a group of young white men fight, it is called "a fight"? Why is it that when a group of young black men fight over a girl, it is called a "brawl", but when a group of young white men fight over a girl, it is called a "tiff"?
What has happened to race-relations in the community? Why does this seem to be an "us-versus-them" situation? How did it come to this?
I'm sure it is not easy to be a kid growing up in Scotland. Traditionally the population has been of a lower socio-economic status than that of the surrounding community. I know for me, as one of the "not rolling-in-dough" kids, it was sometimes difficult seeing my peers get brand-new BMW's for their 16th birthdays, wearing top-of-the-line designer clothes, and having huge bashes for every birthday. I can imagine it was even more difficult for my Scotland classmates, who not only saw those differences, but also the difference of race. And I'm sure that they were treated differently too.
I don't know how it got so out-of-hand. I always respected the Scotland community's commitment to family, care of their neighborhood, and support for the school.
But were they ever fully welcomed in to the Potomac community? Or were they always seen as outsiders? It is probably the latter. And if that is the case, than the whole community is to blame for what is going on at Churchill today.
I was one of the less brilliant students -- I only went on to the state University. My classmates were regularly going to Harvard, Yale, Stanford, University of Pennsylvania, and other top ranked schools. Many of my old friends are now doctors, lawyers, and University professors and administrators.
It was a wonderful school.
But don't think that we were totally sheltered from the outside world. We weren't. Although most of the students were from very fortunate families, there were some who weren't. For within the boundaries for the school were several communities made up of the descendants of former slaves.
One of these communities is called Scotland. How it got the name, I don't know. But it started in 1880 when a former slave, William Dove, bought 36 acres of land at auction. Over the years, the community fell in to disrepair, and in the 1960's, an agreement was made whereby in exchange for some of the land to create a regional park, 100+ new units would be built for the residents of Scotland.
Those homes still stand today.
At the time I was in high school, the community was still populated by a large number of descendants of William Dove. The community was well-kept (I drove through there several times.) I remember the moms of Scotland in the stands at the football games -- always the best cheerleaders of all. They loved their kids, and supported them immensely.
But in recent months, there have been some incidents at Churchill, apparently involving students from Scotland. Most recently was a "brawl" involving 6 male students, resulting in 5 arrests. Apparently the brawl was part of an ongoing dispute between a former boyfriend and girlfriend. The Principal of the school, Joan C. Benz, sent home a memo to all parents regarding the incidents. Benz described the string of incidents that had occurred during the past couple of months as "Black-on-Black violence." Now Benz is being disciplined for her racially insensitive comments.
I hate seeing all this going on. I remember an occasional fight at school when I was growing up. It never made The Washington Post. Why is it that when it is a group of boys from Scotland, it is suddenly front-page Metro-section news?
Why is it that when a group of young black men fight, it is called "black-on-black violence", but when a group of young white men fight, it is called "a fight"? Why is it that when a group of young black men fight over a girl, it is called a "brawl", but when a group of young white men fight over a girl, it is called a "tiff"?
What has happened to race-relations in the community? Why does this seem to be an "us-versus-them" situation? How did it come to this?
I'm sure it is not easy to be a kid growing up in Scotland. Traditionally the population has been of a lower socio-economic status than that of the surrounding community. I know for me, as one of the "not rolling-in-dough" kids, it was sometimes difficult seeing my peers get brand-new BMW's for their 16th birthdays, wearing top-of-the-line designer clothes, and having huge bashes for every birthday. I can imagine it was even more difficult for my Scotland classmates, who not only saw those differences, but also the difference of race. And I'm sure that they were treated differently too.
I don't know how it got so out-of-hand. I always respected the Scotland community's commitment to family, care of their neighborhood, and support for the school.
But were they ever fully welcomed in to the Potomac community? Or were they always seen as outsiders? It is probably the latter. And if that is the case, than the whole community is to blame for what is going on at Churchill today.
posted by Susan | 7:56 AM
1 Comments:
Why are you insinuating blame on the non-Scotland BMW crowd? It looks like from all reports, it had absolutely nothing to do with it.
For one thing, you have no idea what the current income level is for Scotland residents or families of the boys in question.
Second, it does seem to be an unfortunate cultural evolution of the last several decades to turn even the slightest hint of what might be disrespect into a street fight or worse. I blame this current state of affairs on the many, many references to violence we have allowed to creep into the entertainment business.
Third, not to denigrate the seriousness of this matter, but I can imagine other groups of teens around the tougher sections of cities nationwide, having a good laugh at the Churchill "violence." Guns would have been blazing long before this in many other "jurisdictions."
The "black-on-black" comment, while an unfortunate choice of words, I think was simply a desire of Ms. Benz to assure the any uninformed Churchill parents that the far more insidious, dangerous and sometimes unstoppable interracial violence was not taking place. Defining it as non-racial was the correct thing to do. A fight can be quelled, racial violence has a much longer lifespan.
Graduate WCHS 1968
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