The Lincoln Log

The Hip Hop Club performs at the 13th Annual BSA, "Got Heart?" (Photo 1 of 2)

Fifteen years ago, a tragic shooting birthed what is now the largest, and youngest, Abraham Lincoln High School tradition. The Brotherhood/Sisterhood Assembly started in 1992, after a racial shooting that forced the student body and administration to really consider the underlying issues and tensions that caused the act of violence. The ALHS principal at that time, Gwen Chan, who is now the interim Superintendent, saw the necessity of bringing the fractious racial groups together. She coined the term “brotherhood sisterhood,” which posed the problem of creating such a venue to the Associated Student Body, who that year began the tradition of BSA in the form of a Unity Assembly. It was a call for the student body to put aside their various differences and prejudices to try and fix the situation.

As most students know—all of us, perhaps, besides the freshmen, the BSA started with racial tension, which had been progressing for a long time beforehand, between different groups at Lincoln, namely, the Asian and black student populations. These tensions culminated in a shooting, in which a student was killed. At the time, several teachers still remember it, including ASB Directors Rosemary Kamkar and Shawn Aluk.

Fifteen years ago ASB came together and asked, “What can we do to solve this problem?” They decided to hold an assembly with acts from the various clubs representing different cultures. That first assembly had only eight acts—this upcoming assembly will have more than 20. Of all of the annual and traditional events here at Lincoln, like Spirit Week, Bell Game, October and May Fests, BSA has the biggest pull on alumni; alumni come back to Lincoln and are eager to watch the BSA experience more than anything else.

“I believe [BSA] has made a difference these past years,” Kamkar said. “It allows groups of students who usually would not mix to interact.”

This vehicle of community isn’t only that, however. BSA is another way that we as a student body can address new issues in the student body as well, with a sense of Mustang pride and cooperation. Of course this isn’t the only unifying tradition, but there is always that certain something about BSA, probably having to do with the circumstances in which it started, that makes the annual finale song that much sweeter.

“I think some of the issues we are facing today, the ones that are causing closed campus, are similar to those that preceded BSA,” Kamkar said. “At that time as well, there was a separation among the students, not a sense of unity. But I think a major difference is that even in that time there was a sense of pride in being a Lincoln student, whereas now there is a lack of Mustang family feeling. Perhaps some students don’t understand it, or maybe they just don’t want to be part of it.”

Despite this, or perhaps even because of it, this year those who are involved in BSA—which will be held in the auditorium, as always—seem intent on making it bigger, better, and more unified than ever.