| 6/5/2009 11:13:00 AM | Email this article • Print this article | Diversity assembly at WHS
By Chris Welch
Union staff writer
WHITEWATER - Students at Whitewater High School participated in a special interactive session on anti-racism led by two diversity consultants Thursday.
The assembly followed in the wake of racist death threats found May 14 in a school restroom that targeted six African-American students at the school.
Speaking to the students in the gym were diversity specialist Robert Baldwin of the School District of Janesville and Santo Carfora of S&J Consulting LLC.
Both Carfora and Baldwin have worked with the Whitewater Unified School District (WUSD) before, but neither has been active in the district recently.
To allow a more open and comfortable atmosphere for the students, the media was not allowed to sit in. Thus, afterward, the speakers shared what they hoped to accomplish with Thursday's presentation.
"Initially, we wanted to recognize the students for the steps they took based on the incident that occurred," Baldwin said. "Also, we wanted to encourage them: to let them know that we are going to be here to help them sort through these kinds of things. We want to teach them some skills that they will need as they move through life."
Baldwin noted that this situation is not about just being in high school, but is one they might face in the "outside world."
"One of the things we have learned in the years ... is that it is very important that, when staff or students hear inappropriate comments, you do not let it go unchallenged," he said. "You must intervene, even if it is simply to ask 'What did you say?' or 'What did you mean by that?' However you chose to address that comment is fine, but you must not let it go unchallenged."
Carfora addressed the actions that students took in the aftermath of the incident, such as the anti-racism protest held at the school and the "Stop the Hate" button campaign.
"It was something initiated by students, for students, because of what students did," he said. "They actually grabbed the bull by horns. They did what we encourage to happen in situations like this, which is to take action. You can do the book learning, but if you do nothing with what you learn, then it goes nowhere. Its like reading a history book, but if you have no context of what you are reading, it has no meaning to you."
Carfora continued: "Many students talk about how they hate history because it has no impact on them today, but it does have an impact: This is our lineage; this is where we come from. Often, when we talk to people about racism, we are talking about understanding your history so you know where it began so you can take the steps to undo it."
Baldwin said he hoped to promote understanding and better relationships between the students.
"We want them to know that we are here to help them as well, because we want them to be change agents," Carfora added. "That means to challenge things and intervene in ways that are comfortable with your personality."
In regard to the Whitewater High School incident, the consultants said they have dealt with racism issues before in schools, but this was the first death threat they could recall.
"There has been graffiti on walls, and the district has been concerned that might lead to other inappropriate behavior, but nothing like this particular incident," Carfora said.
"A lot of schools are concerned about what we call this 'diversity stuff,' but it is really about relationship-building," he noted. "There is a part of diversity that often gets put on the back burner, and at Whitewater, the racism just came to a head. Diversity done properly, addresses anti-racism as well. So we need to ask, why did this address just black kids? Why would they do that? Is it just one or two students angry at the world? There is a possibility that this could have been done by another African-American student, but we just do not know. Was some one excluded by those other six?
"But sometimes, students of color don't feel comfortable," Carfora noted.
Baldwin pointed out that "there are only 12 African-American students in this school, and that has got to be hell for those kids. One of the kids said to me, 'I cannot come here and be myself.' He has to act different here, and that has to be hard.'"
He said that people in this area are not very familiar with other cultures, and if there is no mutual understanding, they can offend, demean and demoralize students and parents unintentionally.
Carfora said that they had worked with the WUSD in the past, holding staff development and student training.
"We did an all-school assembly in 2005, and then they broke out into work groups, but that was the last time we were here," Carfora said. "Since then, we have been in touch with district, but, diversity sort of fell off the radar."
Carfora said he believed the pressures of budget cuts is what prevented the continuation of an on-going program at the school.
"It was not that it was not important, just other things took priority," he noted.
The consultants said the next step is to work with a new anti-racism taskforce that is being formed by the WUSD. The taskforce will include school board members, teachers, staff, students and community residents.
"We will help form the taskforce and come up with a 3-5 year plan, and we will work with teachers and students again," he added. "We like to plant seeds so they can do this themselves. They can have us come back every now and then for a refresher. But the kids we spoke with today, they never saw us before. The kids we worked with previously have all graduated and moved on.
"All of this takes commitment and resources, and I know there are a lot of committed teachers here," Carfora added. "But there are only so many hours in the day. All this needs to be discussed. We do not do this to stir the pot; we do this to keep the pot from boiling over. Our work is not to make people feel comfortable; in fact, it might make them uncomfortable a little bit."
"We have to get people to realize that there are differences, and there is a value to understanding those differences," Baldwin concluded. "There is a value to developing relationships with people who are not like you. There is a value in understanding how people learn, and that may be different than the status quo. We put stuff out there for the students to think about, with the understanding that they know we will be coming back."
Meanwhile, Dr. Leslie Steinhaus, district administrator for the Whitewater Unified School District, issued a statement regarding the diversity session.
Calling it "a very positive and productive diversity and acceptance session, she said, "I am pleased that our students were engaged throughout the 60-minute program to learn how to build greater acceptance and appreciation for our school's diverse student body and our community's diverse population.
"I believe the session will help build a strong foundation on which to foster greater tolerance, understanding and acceptance for the diverse community that we are," Steinhaus added.
There were, unfortunately, two disappointing occurrences, she reported.
"After the program, one student uttered a mean-spirited and ugly racist comment and another student exhibited racist behavior," said Steinhaus. We are very disappointed in these incidents, especially because they came on the heels of what everyone would describe as a positive and helpful session. The district is taking disciplinary action. "
The district administrator said that the diversity training session brought a lot of value to the school, and everything indicates that the students and staff got a great deal out of it.
"We all learned some things that we can build on; we have a heightened sensitivity to the need for a greater acceptance of our rich diversity as a student body and community, and, we have established a path to make greater progress on this very important issue," she concluded.
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