Students Speak Out Against Intolerance at Peace Day Event

Sitting in a gazebo at a Peace Day event in Ojai on Wednesday, a group of Asian high school students talked about discrimination--from other races and from within their own race.

“If you don’t know how to speak your language, other Asians say you’re whitewashed,” said Dinh Phan, 17, a Ventura High School junior.

“And people of my race don’t accept me if I date someone of another race,” said Amy Vongkhammounty, 17.

“Yeah. Our race would be better if Asians didn’t dog other Asians,” said Jonathan Namoc, 16.

During Wednesday’s event, students from Ventura, Channel Islands and Moorpark high schools gathered at a conference center in Ojai to discuss racism and brainstorm methods to break down stereotypes. Their goal: to promote tolerance among students and prevent racial problems on campus.

“People think that there isn’t racism here,” said Trinity Shawley, a Ventura High School senior who helped coordinate the event. “But there is racism and there is prejudice. We need to make people aware of what’s going on in the community and make people tolerant of one another.”

Funded by a two-year Safe Schools grant, Peace Day started last year with Ventura High School students and this year has expanded to include students from other schools. Alicia Verdades, who teaches a peer counseling class at Ventura High, said she would like to see every school in the county involved in Peace Day. “We’re hoping it will spread like a wave,” she said.

Moorpark counselor Jennica Frickman plans to start one at her school. “I’m excited to do it at Moorpark,” she said. “Sometimes you plant a seed, and in time, that seed grows and the students who hold racist views are open to change.”

Donning T-shirts that read “Stop the Violence,” about 75 teen leaders and a dozen teachers took part in role-playing activities and in small group discussions. Among the rules: listen and speak with your heart.

During an activity called “Labels,” the teens broke into groups and wrote down the worst name they had ever been called. Then they folded their papers and the facilitator shuffled them. Students put new labels on themselves, and shared how they would feel if called that name.

Amelia Mize, 16, a Caucasian teen with spiked brown hair, randomly picked one.

She said the epithet made her feel bad. “I feel hurt, because they probably don’t even know me,” said the Moorpark High School student.

During another activity, the students broke into small groups based on individual ethnicity. Within those groups, they discussed how society perceives them, and what they like and don’t like about their ethnic group.

Moorpark senior Jessica Baker is French Canadian, black, Cherokee and Italian. She said she has a split identity, and acts one way at home and another way with her friends.

“Everyone in the biracial group seems to have the same problems,” she said. “It made me wish we could live in a community where people didn’t have to identify with one race or another.”

And Ventura High senior Erica Dolan, who is Latina, said she doesn’t want people to think all Latinos are gang members or pregnant teens. “We are as intelligent as every other group, and a lot of us want to succeed in life.”

Trevor Beld, who is white, said most people stereotype whites as the source of racism. “But most people in our group weren’t like that,” he said. “I hope we can be an example and can prove to the world that we can make a difference.”

Ventura High School counselor Linda Holder, who coordinated Peace Day, said the program is modeled on the National Conference of Christians and Jews, which was launched in the 1950s to promote tolerance.

The event also draws from American Indian culture. To speak, the students hold a “talking piece,” or a stick decorated with string and beads. And instead of clapping, they say an Indian word that means “I add my voice to yours.”

Gustavo Castro, who works with the nonprofit Coalition to End Domestic Violence, said he was inspired by the students’ openness and willingness to talk about diversity.

“This really raises cultural and racial awareness,” he said. “And it shows how our phobias and stereotypes are similar to those of other ethnicities.”

The student leaders will take what they learned Wednesday, and facilitate future Peace Days.