Diversity Group Celebrates New Friendships

April Butcher and Skylar Jackson live miles apart, attend separate high schools, hang out with different crowds and share little resemblance--Butcher is white and Jackson is part white, part black.

But after getting acquainted through a local diversity program, the two Orange County teenagers found common ground in something they both love: music.

“Most of my friends at school are white and I thought Skylar only listened to rap music because she’s black,” said Butcher, a sophomore at Cypress High School. “But I found out she listens to the same music I do. We have the same tastes.”

On Sunday, Butcher and Jackson, a senior at Westminster’s La Quinta High, celebrated the end of “Friendship Sees No Color Week,” at Wild Bill’s Western Extravaganza in Buena Park.

About 100 people attended the afternoon function, which included speeches by various community leaders, entertainment by young rappers and singers and reflections by some of the 40 people who took part in the diversity experiment.

Brian Harris, a 15-year-old sophomore at Cypress High, organized the project, in which people of different races and ethnic groups were paired up and given free passes to play miniature golf, have dinner or do other things together.

Harris came up with the idea after matching more than 20,000 people over the past three years through his pen-pal program, “Friendship Sees No Color.”

Thousands of people of all ages, from as far as the West Indies and Canada, now correspond with people from different backgrounds, thanks to Harris.

Taking the concept one step further, the 15-year-old decided people should step out of their “comfort zone” and meet people face-to-face.

“We’re here to walk out the door a different person,” Harris said. “We hope people have made friendships that will last.”

Among those who participated were Joyce Yarborough, a 56-year-old secretary from Mission Viejo, and Shirley Asada, a 57-year-old preschool teacher from Garden Grove.

Yarborough, who is black, said she and Asada, who is Japanese American, played miniature golf and appeared together on NBC’s “Mike and Maty Show” late last month to talk about their experiences.

“We had a wonderful time together. It was the first time for both of us to go miniature golfing. . . . I didn’t see her as a race or a color. I saw her as a warm, pleasant and loving individual,” Yarborough said.

Yarborough said she agreed to participate because she was impressed by Harris’ goals.

“How outstanding it is for a youngster to come up with an outstanding idea to bring people together,” she said.

Jackson said she and Butcher exchanged phone numbers and plan to continue their friendship.

“I know April and I felt pretty close afterwards,” she said. “We played miniature golf, sat down and talked and played arcade games. She’s into all different kinds of music, and I wasn’t expecting that.”