Black History Assembly

On Wednesday, February 16th, the SHS Black History Committee put on their 21st production of their annual black history assembly. This year due to restrictions from the pandemic, students in a 3rd period study or gym were able to attend like normal in the auditorium, while a livestream of the event was able to be watched in classrooms. Prior to the pandemic the black history assembly was split into 2 separate shows, where every student had the opportunity to attend in person. Last year, the show consisted of a pre-recorded video, so the committee was excited this year to bring it back to a somewhat live setting. Even with the slight restrictions, the Black History Assembly was able to use a mix of different forms of art to express the experience of African American students at SHS and the country as a whole. This year saw a mix of singing, dancing, spoken word, and video, in order to convey both black history and the current day experiences that people of color still face. The Black History Committee consists of students of all different races and ethnicities and production of the assembly takes multiple months with auditions being held in the fall.

This year’s black history assembly has undoubtedly faced controversy on both a local and national scale. A spoken word poem read at the assembly from the perspective of George Floyd’s mother was recorded by multiple students and distributed across the Shrewsbury Area. The poem references the actions of Derek Chovin, the now convicted police officer who murdered George Floyd. Due to the references to police officers, some Shrewsbury residents interpreted that this poem was referencing all police officers, and did not want their children taught that information. At the next School Committee meeting, Jeffery Sossa-Pauquette, a Shrewsbury resident looking to run for Congress in Massachusetts’ 2nd District, voiced his opinion of the words spoken. In his nearly 3 minute speech, Sossa-Paquette alleged that students who are children of law enforcement will think of their parents as “murders” and “predators”, that students were “forced” to recite the black national anthem (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i30SdcfEpSE) , and that the new curriculum in the middle school was “indoctrinating” students. In reality, students were shown a presentation based on the history of people of color in the US and were invited to stand, if they so choose, during the black national anthem. A video of Sossa-Paquette's “explosion” over the assembly was reposted to twitter by Andrew Serbian and was later retweeted by Donald Trump Jr.

The video now has over 100k views and thousands of retweets. The now national discussion over the SHS Black History Assembly has caused dissent among the Shrewsbury Community. On Friday, February 19th, Shrewsbury High Principal Todd Bazydlo, sent an email home to parents regarding the matter. In the email, he stated that “The intent of the Black History Committee student group, and of our school, is to celebrate our school’s rich diversity, educate students about the accomplishments and achievements of Black Americans, provide students the opportunity to develop empathy and perspective, and to create a greater sense of belonging and inclusiveness for all students in our school community.”

The controversy over the Black History Assembly has sparked debates among SHS students and parents over social media about whether or not the content in the assembly was justified. These debates have also led to flat-out attacks against the high school students on the Black History Committee. These attacks were brought up at the March 9th school committee meeting where multiple residents spoke regarding the treatment of teenage students over social media. They urged the school committee to help stop the vicious comments. On top of this, a letter was read at the meeting written by the Black History Committee. In this letter, the committee provides clarity on the poem as well as urges Shrewsbury residents to stop the threats they are receiving.

Shrewsbury High School is attempting to help remedy the situation by offering after-school programs to try to foster discussion about inclusivity at SHS. What started as an annual assembly, allowing students to share African American history and experiences, has now sparked a national debate about what schools should be able to educate students on.