By Shumaya Islam
On Friday morning I missed the bell for my first period class. All was going according to my regular routine; I was climbing the usual two flights of stairs to make a quick stop at the first floor girls’ restroom…but immediately I stopped dead in my tracks. I realized that I was suddenly surrounded by masses of familiar, colorful, cardboard posters.
Commandeering our school’s first-floor walls were the dozens of student-made cardboard posters used during the National School Walkout held on March 14th. Right then, I realized that this was the exact moment I had been craving during the last three years at Manhattan Center. As I spent nearly three minutes just looking—before the late bell buzzed in the halls—I sighed in anticipation, because the school had finally spoken as one.
I like to say that I had somewhat of an advantage when it came to the school walkout. As a member of the senior yearbook committee and the National Honor Society, I have many insider peeks into school events and decisions. I would like to credit those who made the Walkout happen, and emphasize how this event created a strong bonding between both students and adults in our school.
A politics junky, a singer, a fellow classmate, and a friend, M.D. Hussein, (also known as Sayeem) should be recognized for his key role in organizing the walkout. He is also a member of the senior yearbook committee and MCSM’s Model UN club.
I was fortunate enough to ask Sayeem a few questions about the walkout. Below, Sayeem offers his take not only on gun control laws, but on the future of the school community.
Q: How did you initially learn about the National School Walkout and what prompted you to make sure MCSM participated?
A: So, the day the Parkland shooting occurred, which was on February 14th, I immediately received a notification on my phone. The moment I received it, I was absolutely horrified. Ever since then, I have been following the news. I have been following students who began organizing protests. And that’s when the entire situation changed. I found out they were going to have a March in Washington, on the 24th. I decided that I would like to go to that. After knowing about the planned student walkout, I felt like it was my obligation to organize it [here]. Being that our school has 1,600 people, I feel like it’s imperative to be involved in one of the biggest [national] debates since 9/11.
Q: Don’t mind me, but do you like to credit yourself as the first student to introduce the walkout in our school?
A: I am not the type of person to credit myself. I feel like this whole effort wasn’t a one person job. This was an idea we all had, especially my friend Ashanna and my club advisor Mr. McCue. We, the Model United Nations club leaders, took the initiative, and formed the walkout. I saw this as a civic responsibility.
Q: Can you share the steps you had to take in order to fully make the walkout happen? Any obstacles you worked through?
A: Oh yeah, totally! There were a lot of setbacks. Many politicians said they didn’t want to come to a walkout, but they did end up coming. We also faced opposition from many students. Many students thought that we shouldn’t be making this a school event. We faced a lot of criticism from the militant students, because they thought the administration should have handled this. But in reality, we had to collaborate with the administration, because at the end of the day it’s not like an “Oh we can do whatever we want” walkout. One thousand students walking out is chaos, so that’s why we had to contact the police and reporters. So yeah, there were setbacks and we didn’t have high expectations. Yet our expectations were exceeded, passing far beyond what we expected!
Q: Okay, now the main topic: gun control. What are your thoughts/views on gun control?
A: Well, first of all, I completely respect the second amendment. I actually taped the US Constitution next to my bed. I am firm believer in the rights of those who own guns. But, what I do know, is that the framers did not intend guns to be war machines used to kill civilians, and that’s what we face today. We have AR-15s or AK-47s which are readily available in the United States, and those can fire 40 rounds per minute! Back in 1791, guns had to be reloaded frequently, they could only shoot once or twice per minute.
So you see the difference there. You see the carnage, and you see all the problems that arise. And this is the reason to why I feel like we need to have a ban on assault rifles. We need to have a ban on all gun modifications that make guns become [high capacity] automatic weapons, because those are indefinite killing machines.
Q: While I have never experienced a live concert, I have always envisioned how I would feel singing along with a crowded audience to my favorite artists. Funny to say, but during the walkout, my picture of experiencing a concert mirrored my experience at the walkout. I felt empowered, because for the first time ever, almost everyone at MCSM voiced a similar opinion together. What were your exact emotions during the walkout?
A: My emotions were one of hope and one of grief. Because everyone walking out together was hopeful. It showed that even students in East Harlem could come together and work as a team and actually voice their concerns. You know the whole thing with “hope in humanity restored”? But it was also for grief that we all came together. As I read the names of all seventeen victims, that is exactly what I felt, and cannot imagine what those families are going through.
Q: Do you see this as an impetus for introducing similar events in the future?
A: Oh yes totally! I feel like this has been the first time we actually organized an event we are passionate about. I think, yes, this definitely opens up many doors for the MCSM community, whether it be towards a certain cause or fighting to resolve a certain issue.
Q: As we’re both in our final year in high school, did this event change your views on youth empowerment or anything of a similar nature?
A: Totally, because–I’m not going to deny it– I had little faith my generation. Being the generation where we have phones in our pocket twenty-four/ seven, we want something fast! (snaps fingers). The fact that we came together so quickly really restored my faith. Because it showed that we will come together in times of crisis. That we will unify ourselves and fight a good fight…and protest or rally to support and stay on the right side of history.
Q: Okay last question! If you could only describe your experience at MCSM with three food metaphors, what would the three foods be?
A: Ha ha! So the first food I would say is ice cream. In some parts, my school experience was sweet … and there were a lot of people I’ve met who will forever hold a place in my heart. I will also equate it to extremely spicy food, like ghost-pepper spicy food, because I did not always see eye-to-eye with the Powers-That-Be while I was a sophomore. But over time I learned how to overcome our differences. Lastly, I would say water. Why water? Water has the potential to change from solid to liquid or to gas. All the experiences I have had in high school helped me change for the better.