BSU’s revival

After a multi-year absence, the Los Altos High School Black Student Union (BSU) has returned to campus. Re-established under new leadership, the club hopes to support the Black students on campus, promote Black culture, and celebrate its members’ successes.

“I want to provide a space for Black students to just have a voice and be part of a community that supports them,” BSU president sophomore Max Asmar said. “Since there are only 32 of us, I thought it was a little unfair that other people were able to have that security while we weren’t.”

This year, BSU aims to increase membership and publicize holidays celebrated by the Black community such as Kwanzaa and Juneteenth. So far, their meetings create belonging for the 32 Black students on campus — and any other students who are interested. In collaboration with ASB, they celebrated Black History Month in February, which concluded with a week of activities, including a food faire. On social media, they highlighted influential Black figures and their achievements throughout the month.

BSU’s strong return represents more than just the return of a club, though — it’s the return of one of the oldest culture clubs on campus, and one of the oldest clubs at LAHS in general, founded in 1976 and operating almost continuously until the COVID-19 pandemic.

BSU’s history

Through the years, BSU has worked towards increased cultural awareness while celebrating the Black community in Los Altos and Mountain View. It aimed to support its students, not only culturally, but academically and socially too.

“When I was on campus as a student, there was a larger population of Black students on campus,” BSU alumnus and former adviser Michael Smith said. “BSU felt like a safe space you would flock to as if you had done a sport. My brother and friends were involved, and it was just a cool place to hang out together and talk about how to represent the community.” 

Smith was part of BSU in the 90s, serving as part of the club’s leadership team.

“We did not have this traditional ‘President, Vice President, Secretary, Treasurer’ structure, with all these people vying for these positions,” Smith said. “Our adviser at the time taught us that African culture was rooted in this ‘steering committee,’ this group of elders that moved the interests of the group together so you had these equal voices.”

This former structure also enabled better academic and social success for members, as it improved cohesion and included voices across grade levels.

“There were two seniors, two juniors, two sophomores, and one freshman,” Smith said. “It was cool to learn the sophomore struggles as a freshman like, ‘How many AP classes are you taking?’ ‘Okay, note to self, don’t overdo it.’ You get to understand the progression of school and what matters. I liked that group dynamic.”

BSU membership — and the Black population on campus — was also much greater during Smith’s high school years.

The club also participated in more activities outside of LAHS, such as a statewide BSU conference with attendance in the thousands. LAHS’ BSU also attended multiple conventions in the 90’s, which were hosted by United Black Student Unions Of California at both a NorCal and SoCal location. 

“That’s where a lot of my leadership skills were built foundationally,” Smith said. “We got to go back to that togetherness; that’s where I see BSU getting toward. Last year it was a struggle because they had no leadership to pass the baton to.”

Smith and current adviser Kalinda Price cite many factors causing the club’s disappearance, including the smaller number of Black students, a lack of leadership within the club during the COVID-19 pandemic, and the pandemic halting club culture at LAHS as a whole. But, Smith and Price are excited to see what’s next for the club now.

Plays

The club also built student leadership and cultural awareness throughout the 80s and 90s by putting on plays about Black culture and history.

“The big thing we did when I was in school was a play each year — an original, self-written, scripted play,” Smith said. “The people who wrote it were the parents and the students that worked together for months on end. We practiced for months, and we performed in front of the whole school.”

The educational plays were meant to inform students about what African Americans contributed to America.

“The most accurate thing I could call it is a historical showcase of talent,” Smith said. “You would have Martin Luther King having a conversation with Malcolm X, which, if you know about the history, they only met once. But it’s this powerful moment.”

The plays related historical situations from the Civil Rights era and the Civil War to contemporary issues, creating discussions about Black history and the legacy of influential figures. 

The plays were performed in the Main Gym, as the Eagle Theater had not been constructed yet. They would turn the gym into a stage, complete with set design, costumes, and music. Smith recalled how the quality of BSU’s plays surprised and impressed other students.

“You’d have this supreme show,” Smith said. “You have these four sisters who were actually singing and dancing, and in a sequin dress. And people were like, ‘Was that a voice recording?’ No, that was them. Scratched your heads up.” 

Subject matter varied, but the plays aimed to primarily educate — then entertain and inspire. One year, they put on a play about the progression of Africa, and another year, Black history through the decades. For many years, they recreated important moments in Black history.

“[Bringing back] the plays is definitely a possibility, people are interested in performing in front of the school,” Max said.

Baccalaureate

Another cherished tradition was BSU’s baccalaureate, a ceremony to honor its members’ graduation. It was started by Price, who took on the role of BSU adviser when she joined LAHS in 2006 and advised the club until 2017. She resumed advising the club this year. 

“We would highlight and celebrate each student one by one, and it wasn’t solely about grades,” Price said. “We know you’ve worked hard these four years with everything just trying to survive here on campus. Amidst all of the systemic issues that we face and all the microaggressions that we face, we want to honor you.”

At the start, BSU joined an existing baccalaureate at a church in San Jose, and for six weeks, Price would drive students there to practice.

In later years starting in 2010, however, it was hosted on campus. It took place on a Saturday shortly before LAHS’ student-wide graduation ceremony and was a full-day event. They had a ceremony in the theatre, hosting performances including song singing, poetry reading, and dancing. They also served dinners for the participating families during senior tributes and words of encouragement. 

At the baccalaureate, BSU would also hand out scholarships to support students with future endeavors.

“We would serve our families food and give scholarships away to students, upwards of $1,000,” Price said. “We kind of took the scholarship idea from the Black educators program. We took those categories and it wasn’t solely about your academic endeavors. Categories like community service, or most improved, and things like that.”

Categories also included, “Against All Odds,” “Social Consciousness,” and “Fine Arts/Talents.” BSU raised the scholarship money through fundraisers, crowdfunding, and alumni contributions. BSU hopes to bring back this tradition in future years.

“We do want to keep continuing with the baccalaureate,” Price said. “We don’t know how that’s going to go, because our funding is not as much as before, but we are networking with other schools and families. I want to start it, begin the talk.”

“We’re gonna try to make it a tradition every year,” Max said. “It’s empowering for our members to pursue their academic goals.”

Community outreach beyond LAHS

BSU also collaborates with Justice Vanguard, a social justice organization founded in 2020 by LAHS alumni Kiyoshi Taylor (‘15) and Kenan Moos (‘16). The group hosts events throughout the South Bay, including Juneteenth celebrations, and offers scholarships and internship opportunities to BSU members. They also create social justice documentaries. 

This upcoming summer Justice Vanguard will be hosting a Juneteenth celebration with the help of BSU. As Juneteenth falls after graduation, plans to organize it are independent from the school.

Aside from Justice Vanguard, BSU has also connected with other local BSUs, including attending St. Francis’ Kwanzaa celebration in December. 

“We have to start networking with our sister school Mountain View,” Price said. “We’re trying to network with other schools as a source of motivation.”

Issues faced by BSU: racism, pandemic troubles, funding

Although a long successful club with an energetic return to campus, BSU acknowledges that racism on campus is real.

“There’s a lot of microaggressions on campus and it doesn’t feel good to be told those kinds of things or just be subject to that,” Max said, “I hear microaggressions every day. Our mission is to provide a safe space for students, because there can be racism, explicit or implicit.”

Another hard hit to the club was the pandemic, which left BSU, like other clubs, without a leadership team as clubs could not operate. By the time the pandemic was over, most of the BSU leadership had graduated.

“I feel like we lost the oomph of BSU being gone that long. With the pandemic, it has hurt a lot of our students socially — that desire to get together and connect,” Price said. “With the pandemic happening it has changed the direction of how we communicate as a culture or as a group of kids. It’s just getting the students motivated to be back and wanting to be a part of it, especially in today’s climate.”

On top of these struggles, BSU also hopes to improve its budget to be able to host more events. 

“It would be nice to have that support from the district to get things off the ground,” Price said.

Looking ahead

As BSU starts up again, they’re looking to cement their presence on campus and increase membership.

“We’ve brought together Black students at Los Altos,” Max said. “There are only 32 Black students, including me, so we try to get everyone together.”

By hosting events open to all students, such as the food fair, they hope to solidify their efforts.

“I know people come in the quad and finally realize that BSU is actually a club here,” BSU Vice President senior Amanda Iweka said. “It used to be really big but it died down, so we’re just trying to get that energy back.”

“It’s important to have clubs like these specific to certain groups because you look around and there’s not a lot of diversity,” BSU Secretary Junior Elena Guttierez said. “It’s really important to let people know that there’s always a safe place for them.”

“Our numbers are so low here when it comes to Black students and staff,” Price said. “Our students need a source of support, and they need to know who’s here on campus to support them through whatever it is.” 

As their new leadership team gains experience after the club’s hiatus, they will bring the club forward and create a strong base to act on next year.

“My greatest hope is that they accomplish laying a foundation where they can organize strong events that will have them feel proud of themselves,” Smith said. “I think organizations that have longevity don’t start when the year starts. They start in the preview, in the summer.”

“ I can’t wait to see what next year has to offer, what we can achieve, and how much the club is going to grow,” publicist freshman Ana Asmar said.

BSU meets on Mondays in Room 501. Follow their Instagram @lahsbsu.