LEIMERT PARK : Program Captures Spirit of Diversity

The dance was a crazy quilt of ethnic influences--a Swedish traditional number fashioned into a stylized gang confrontation and performed by black and Latino students--but the audience’s enthusiastic approval knew no bounds.

The more than 300 students that convened at Audubon Middle School likewise were enthralled by a dance troupe that featured black, white, Asian and Latino girls. Wrapped head to ankle in colorful kente cloth, they moved in perfect sync to the beat of Nigerian drums and the wild applause of their peers.

The performances symbolized the spirit of “Hands Across the District,” an annual event at Audubon that brings together students from different schools and ethnic backgrounds whose paths ordinarily do not cross.

Through cultural performances, presentations and discussion groups, Audubon Assistant Principal David Balok said, the event seeks to forge better relations among students and dispel racial myths that too often keep them apart. Last week’s event brought together students from Audubon in Leimert Park, the Los Angeles Center for Enriched Studies in the Fairfax district and the 32nd Street Magnet School in South-Central.

“Not nearly enough effort goes into improving human relations among students,” said Sharon Curson, a teacher from 32nd Street. “People talk about it, but no one does anything.”

Audubon English teacher Evaline Kruse started the event in 1976, the year the United States celebrated its bicentennial. Together with her magnet classes, Kruse put together a program she thought best reflected the American melting pot ideal.

“My father always emphasized that we were American-Lebanese, not the other way around,” said Kruse, who was born in Biloxi, Miss. “He was very pro-American, whatever people’s race.”

In addition to musical performances and a talent show, this year’s “Hands” featured writer and KCET television host Ruben Martinez speaking on the critical need for racial interaction.

“Look, diversity isn’t easy,” he told the audience. “It’s a lot of hard work. But you can’t have a democracy if the freedom of even one person is compromised. So we have to make it work. We have to learn to talk to our neighbors.”

Students spent their lunch hour huddled in discussion groups on the stage and auditorium floor. Icebreaker questions that a student moderator gave to each group--What would you change in the world? What do you consider a positive statement?--were slow to generate conversation. But the students, who started off the day as strangers, soon warmed up.

Audubon student Esther Lee, 13, talked passionately about media-driven misconceptions about South-Central that make people steer clear of blacks and Latinos. “I have a lot of friends who are black, and people say I’m ‘blackwashed,’ ” said Lee, who is of Korean descent. “That’s not right. The truth is, we’re all mixed up in this society.”