HomeStories and NewsSuccess StoriesChanging the world, a little bit at a time

Changing the world, a little bit at a time

by Carrie Boron

April 5, 2006 | | Kenosha, Wisconsin

On a blustery March day, in Kenosha, Wis., more than 350 students from area high schools came together for the fourth-annual “Diversity Circles in Action” conference. The conference grew out of “Diversity Circles,” an ongoing program that helps people talk about diversity issues and work together to create change in their schools and communities.  To date, more than 2,100 high school students and at least 200 adults have taken part in the program.

Organized by students for students, the “Diversity Circles in Action” conference provides a venue for teens from many different backgrounds to get together and learn about diversity issues. The conference is sponsored by the Center for Community Partnerships at the University of Wisconsin-Parkside, UW Extension Service, United Way of Racine County, and Sustainable Racine.

“See that table of mostly white guys in Carhartt jackets?” asks Shakaira Wainwright, a senior from Case High School in Racine, Wis. Four teenage boys in camouflage Carhartt jackets, hooded sweatshirts, and baseball caps sit at a table drawing Chevy symbols on butcher paper. “They won’t even look at me,” says Wainwright, who is black. “I bet they won’t talk to people like me.”

Wainwright helped organize the “Diversity Circles in Action” conference, a youth-led event for students that features Diversity Circle discussions, workshops on diversity issues, and drumming circles.  The conference opens with a “Diversity Café”—a place for students to talk openly with each other about diversity and racial issues based on their own personal experiences.

With a smile, Wainwright approaches the “Carhartt” table to facilitate the café discussion. ”Can you tell a story of a time when you felt left out or dismissed?” asks Wainwright. She looks around the table for a response. Silence. Smirks. Diverted eyes. The teens, who come from a predominately white, rural school, have nothing to share.

Wainwright persists. She tells the group about a time when some white boys from her school tried to pull the front bumper off of her car for no reason. “I confronted them on it and said that they didn’t have to like me, but they should stay away from my car,” says Wainwright.

Soon, the teens start talking about cliques in their schools.

“Some girls in our school dress up like cats,” says one teen.

“Yeah, they wear cat ears,” says another. “It’s weird.”

Wainwright jumps in and talks about how a group of guys in her school wear tight girl pants and their hair flat in the front.

“But they’re cool. They’re just like you and me,” she says.

After the Diversity Café ends, all of the students scatter to workshops, which include topics like “Why Vote?” “Interracial Dating” and “Stereotypes of Muslims.”

“The students weren’t anything like I expected them to be,” says Wainwright after the café. “I thought they were going to be more quiet, but they were very open. It was cool.”

Getting out the vote

Xavier Marquez, a senior at Horlick High School in Racine and a Diversity Circles facilitator, opens up his “Why Vote?” workshop by quizzing students on the names and notable accomplishments of five presidents. He shows them pictures of Ronald Reagan, Harry Truman, Lyndon Johnson, John Kennedy, and Richard Nixon. One student is able to identify one president Kennedy. After a few minutes, when no one else comes up with an answer, Marquez identifies the rest of the presidents and rewards the students for their effort with Twizzlers and Blow Pops.

Marquez moves from this ice breaker exercise to talking about the importance of voting. He shares his story of rallying students and parents last spring to save sports in Racine’s schools. He tells the group how voters defeated a referendum that would have forced the school board to cut all interscholastic sports in the district.

“I stepped up to make sure that sports weren’t taken away because not only was I a wrestler, but I also have a younger brother who is going to high school pretty soon,” says Marquez. “I was concerned about what school was going to be like for him.”

Marquez’s campaign collected over 4,000 signatures on a petition calling for another vote on the referendum. On June 21 of last year, voters supported the referendum, authorizing the Racine school district to exceed state spending limits by $6.45 million for one year, thus keeping sports programs going in the schools.

“I think what I had to say did make an impact,” Marquez says after the workshop. “I think I had the students thinking about what’s going to happen when they turn 18. Will they be the type of people who will go out and vote, or will they be the type of people who don’t show up and get involved in election work?”

Roseann Mason, Diversity Circles director at the Center for Community Partnerships, University of Wisconsin-Parkside, says Diversity Circles and this conference have provided a venue where Xavier and other students can develop their leadership skills.

 “Students come to the conference and see their peers presenting and they think, ‘Oh, I can do that,’” says Mason. “I think the conference has really empowered students. Everyone has a story and wants to be heard—that combination is empowering.”

 

Interracial dating

“My school is diverse so everyone dates everyone, but outside of school we get stares,” says Danielle Johnson of Horlick High School and a presenter for the “Interracial Dating” workshop.

Another presenter, Rosa Lopez, half white and half Latina, shares a story of when she and her black boyfriend were chased down the street by a group of black teenage boys just for being together. “It was really scary,” says Lopez.

Lopez goes on to talk about how her Latino father took awhile to accept her dating outside of her race. “Now, he says I should be with whoever makes me happy,” she says.

Many students share similar experiences. They say their parents don’t want them to date people from other racial and ethnic backgrounds. An Asian student says her parents stereotype blacks as being violent and disrespectful, so they wouldn’t approve of her dating a black. A white student talks about how her parents were surprised, at first, about her dating a Mexican, but that they seem to be accepting it so far.

“Everyone is the same behind the color,” Johnson reminds students at the end of the workshop.

 

 

“You can tell people are changing a little by the way they’re talking and the kind of questions they’re asking,”

--Shakaira Wainwright, senior at Case High School

Changing attitudes, one at a time

By the end of the day, Shakaira Wainwright and Carla Espinoza, a fellow conference organizer, look tired, but they are energized by the day’s activities.

“You can tell people are changing a little by the way they’re talking and the kind of questions they’re asking,” says Wainwright.

“This experience will always be with us, even after we graduate,” says Espinoza.

Wainwright adds, “Even if only 10 people change their attitude after today, that’s a difference. The students are opening up a lot more and I think they’re starting to change a little. Little things can add up to bigger things. It won’t change the whole world, but I think this is a little piece of what we have to do to change the whole world.”

Learn more: Diversity  | Racial Equity  | Youth Issues

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