High school students punished for breast cancer awareness activity

Today's question: Are high school students mature enough to be involved in breast cancer awareness campaigns at their school?

I recently had a very interesting conversation about breast cancer awareness activities. The kind of conversation that forces you to sit back for a few days and just process what you've heard and how you feel about it before you speak about it. I've been processing for about a week now... and I'm still slightly confused. Though far less angry now.

A week or so ago, a high school in my county denied its students the opportunity to opt out of wearing their normal school uniform and wear pink in support of breast cancer awareness. From my understanding, the principal decided that a day out of uniform would be disruptive. This is curious because the students were allowed to be out of uniform the week before in order to support "Spirit day". For those of you who may not know what Spirit Day is, it is a day in which people rock purple in order to show solidarity against bullying and to support LGBT teens/youth.

Go purple on October 16, 2014 for #spiritday

My understanding is that the school has participated in breast cancer awareness activities for the past few years but this year's event was cancelled. The principal warned students that they were responsible for showing up to school, dressed in their uniforms and not wearing pink. Any students who disobeyed this edict were told that there would be consequences. And it turns out that 75 students ended up in in-school suspension becaue they showed up in their pink and where blocked from attending classes all day long.

So, here is where things get sticky for me...

Issues that are of direct impact to kids are important. Very important. So Spirit Day (the remix) is a good day to allow students to show support for classmates and friends who may have been subjected to bullying -- for any reason. But that led me to wonder... was it that breast cancer seemed too far removed from the realities of these students and that lead the principal to believe that it wasn't necessary to encourage support for breast cancer awareness by wearing pink?

I know that at least one student recently lost her mother to breast cancer. She wanted to pay homage to her mother and to support awareness about the disease. She and some of her peers, decided to wear pink anyway. And, as promised, there were consequences to their disobedience. I do not condone children disobeying their school officials. However, as a breast cancer activist I cannot say that I wasn't proud of these young people for making a stand for what they believed in.

This is where I am challenged:

Breast cancer affects African American women differently (in many cases) than our counterparts of other races. We are more likely to have very aggressive cancer, to be diagnosed late, to be younger than other women when diagnosed and perhaps most importantly, more likely to die from the disease. Though the likelihood of these students having to deal with breast cancer themselves at their age... it is not unlikely that their mother, grandmother, auntie or some other older female in their life may be faced with this illness. And the impact of that could be devastating. I understand that teens/kids are still at the stage of development where body parts are funny. And I'm not clueless enough to miss that boobie jokes can be frequent and highly disruptive at that age. However, the realities of the socio-economic impact of having a parent or a relative with this disease means that this community needs awareness. And awareness to start at a young enough age that the lessons will become an integral part of their life and their outlook going forward.

One of the issues that we face in the African American community is a reluctance to be checked out for any breast problems. In many families, the woman is the primary custodial parent. She may or may not have a partner who is active in raising the children. More than likely, the woman who is the sole (or primary) income provider may earn significantly less than her male counterparts. In other words, this community is likely to be in a tenuous situation economically. With that kind of pressure, many women fear what the knowledge of breast cancer will bring to their lives. The fear of the unknown, the fear of losing their job, losing their income and even losing their lives... makes many women shy away from doing regular breast self-exams or mammograms. Add to the soup, the likelihood of having no health insurance or inadequate insurance coverage and you see that we have a conundrum. I think we need to do whatever we can to connect people to the larger impact of health issues.

Wearing pink shirts and pink ribbons will not change the economic factors that leave a lot of these students and their parents vulnerable. However, it will encourage empathy towards others and perhaps a desire to learn more about the disease and the risk factors that they have control over to slow down the likelihood that they will ever face breast cancer.

Pinktober becomes a sea of pink ribbons and false cheer very fast. I can definitely see how many people may think that it is more false support than anything. Since I am both a survivor and a health activist for this disease, I will admit that some days it can feel like overkill to see all pink everything for an entire month. However, for high school kids to be excited about a good cause, I believe that we should totally encourage that. To step on their desire to be a part of a larger movement and to silence (and punish them) for showing compassion and empathy for people with a devastating illness completely sends the wrong message.

Read more: Prince George's students suspended for wearing pink in support of breast cancer

Is it right to tell kids that their voices don't count and then punish them for standing up for what they believe in?

I just think this a mess that did not have to happen. I have learned that the high school gave the suspended students a chance to make up the work they missed since they were not allowed in class all day. I also learned that the "pink out" day was rescheduled for another day and that pink ribbons were available for students to wear on their uniforms. But honestly? This entire situation simply sucks to me.

Tell me what you think about Friendly High School's decision to suspend students for wearing pink in support of breast cancer awareness. Leave a comment below.

PS. The picture is of a middle school in Fairfax, VA that goes all out for breast cancer awareness every year. They allow their students to wear pink, to raise money for charities and to participate in awareness activities. If the Friendly High School student's younger contemporaries in a nearby county can do it, I am confident that they too can handle it as well.

Let me know what you think about high school students showing support for breast cancer awareness. Drop a comment below... or find me on social media to discuss.

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