Letter from the Editor

Originally published on November 27, 2015

Dear readers of The Lowell,

As the Black Lives Matter movement sweeps across the nation, students have risen up to demand an end to systematic and structural racism on high school and college campuses.

While Lowell may seem distant from these events, a simple look at our student racial demographics will show that our school is not exempt from these underlying issues.

A mere two percent of Lowell’s student population identifies as African-American.

A mere two percent of Lowell’s student population identifies as African-American, with the current freshman class’s African-American population at one percent. These miniscule statistics have led many community members to question why African-American enrollment is so low and what we can do, both institutionally and personally, to support minority students at such a large school and to promote a student body that is ethnically representative of the diverse city that we live in.

Our staff decided to address these issues in relation to Lowell with a three-part series that looks into the school’s enrollment of minority groups, specifically African-American and Latino.

In the first installment, reporter Stephanie Li talks with Lowell’s African-American students to start addressing the ongoing problems with the school’s lack of racial diversity, including cultural appropriation and self-segregation. The second part will look at Lowell’s Latino students’ stories. Wrapping up the series, part three will delve into what is being done at Lowell to increase minority enrollment and support those students.

Luke Haubenstock, Whitney C. Lim, Amber Ly

Editors-in-Chief