Eye-opening, enlightening, and educational won’t even describe how much my school’s Racial Equity Training changed my views and other students’ views.
Over 100 students and staff (with a waitlist) gathered in the library on Feb. 25th to discuss shared experiences and hard topics like race. Dr. Lori Watson taught her program called SLAM (Student Leaders’ Antiracist Movement), a 3-year program to develop leadership skills around the idea of systemic racism and other isms.
From the onset, Dr. Watson established a safe environment where many students felt comfortable sharing their experiences with the whole group. We first discussed the history of racist events that minorities experienced, and how students felt when hearing about this (e.g. in their heart, body, mind, or spirit). We tackled questions that I hadn’t thought about: when was the first time that you realized that your race mattered? The most moving question was when she asked students if they experienced racism from staff or other students in the community. Many people had the courage to reveal their own racist experiences and how students and staff treated them. It was difficult to hear the racism that has been instilled in my own community without even realizing the extent of it. Hearing all of the stories reminded me why I am a journalist. It is important to tell other people’s stories to bring awareness and encourage others to make a change after hearing these stories. I think that’s what journalism is about: uncovering the underlying emotions and shedding light on that particular issue to bring about change. We talked about how everyone has a different narrative. To think that there are even more stories that people didn’t come forward to talk about makes me motivated to make a change for people to realize that these are shared experiences.
Dos Mundos Juntos 