By Bonnie Washuk ,
Sunday, January 20, 2008
The goal of civil rights teams at Lewiston and Edward Little high schools is to make school safe for all.
"It's not perfect. I still hear things I wish I didn't," Becker said. But students are often the ones who speak up and let others know racism is not acceptable.
The same is true at Edward Little, according to Assistant Principal Leslie Morrill who leads the team there. Racism is "alive and well, but things are better."
The difference is that students are trained not to tolerate bigotry. They'll tell other students, "'We don't talk like that here,' or 'Please don't say that.'"
In honor of Martin Luther King Jr. Day, the Sun Journal spoke with five members of Lewiston's civil rights team and five members of Auburn's Unity Project who are working toward realizing King's dream of racial unity. The Unity Project is a national school harassment-prevention program.
Here are their stories:
Twins Julia and Audrey Bergeron, 18, joined the Lewiston High School civil rights team as freshmen, at the urging of their older sister who graduated in 2004. "She got us excited about it," Audrey said.
The twins had heard about name-calling, fights and tension in the halls in 2002-03, when Somali students were new to the school.
That's history, they insist; today's LHS isn't their sister's high school.
"There are still a few that will act out," Julia said. But, overall there's little racism in the school and the school community. They attribute that to education students have received about civil rights, and the fact they were younger when introduced to the Somali culture.
They've grown up with girls wearing head scarves and long skirts. The different skin color, the different dress, is no big deal.
"When you're younger, your mind's not so set on everything," Julia said. "We saw it as this new experience, 'Oh, that's cool.' You just jump in."
They use civil rights meetings to "spread awareness about problems, of which we haven't had that many," Julia said. "Anytime someone does make a deal about it with a racist act, everyone's taken aback."
The sisters say they joined the civil rights team because they want to ensure that everyone's rights are defended. "I get most upset when people try to infringe on other people's rights," Audrey said. One example, she said, is that gay people have fewer rights, such as the right to marry.
Society has come far since the days of Martin Luther King Jr., "but we can still make some things better," Audrey said.
Kaltuma Janay, 16, a junior at Edward Little High School, has been a Unity Project member for three years. She was born in Somalia and came to the United States when she was 5 years old. After living in Boston, her family moved to Maine in 2001.
She remembers hearing about racial fights at Edward Little when she was an eighth-grader. "But honestly, none of that stuff happened to me." She knew there were people "ignorant towards my culture, but I never really thought about it."
Since becoming a member of the Unity Project, Janay's learned about discrimination and walks the halls with her eyes and ears open.
"I'm sure it's happening, but not in front of me. I can't see it. I feel like I can walk down the halls and not be discriminated."
In the community there are some acts of racism, but she said she gives people the benefit of the doubt. If someone's staring at her head scarf "in a bad way," they may have had a bad day. "Maybe the sun's in their eye. Maybe they're curious. I don't jump to conclusions," she said.
She predicted racism would never go away, but would diminish as today's Lewiston-Auburn youths get older. "If you're older and racist, it's very hard for you to change."
Janay used her age group as an example. Somali people started coming to Lewiston-Auburn seven years ago. Ten years from now it will be even better, she said. Today's white students are attending elementary and middle school with Somalis. Before long, they get used to each other, she said.
"If you start out early, by the time you get to college, imagine how many people you can change just by hanging out with somebody who's different than you?" she said. Since coming to the United States, she's learned about the civil rights movement. "Those leaders back then were very brave," she said.
Shea Flynn, 18, a senior at Edward Little High School, joined that school's Unity Project as an underclassman at the urging of Assistant Principal Leslie Morrill.
The team gets kids together to talk about what they see on a daily basis, such as problems relating to hate crimes or sexual preferences, Flynn said. The idea is to fight racism through understanding.
He remembers fights and racial tension at EL when he was a freshman and sophomore. "Back then, it was different," Flynn said. He had Somali friends, "but a lot of my (white) friends just weren't comfortable talking to other groups of people."
School has changed. There are no more fights due to racism, he said.
"It feels good. There's no pressure anymore. Now if you go through the halls you'll see whites, blacks, Somalis and Mexicans all hanging out with each other. You're able to go out and meet as many people as you can."
He attributed the new attitudes to kids realizing there are going to be new types of people coming into the community, and all high school kids are the same.
Some of that racism stemmed from adults in the community. "Now that kids are in school together for long enough, they can see for themselves what their parents are telling them is not right. They can make their decisions on their own whether they're going to hang out."
If Martin Luther King Jr. were alive, "I think he'd be pretty pumped to see what we're doing," Flynn said. "We are really making a change at this school."
Hawo Abdille, 18, a senior at Lewiston High School, was born in Somalia and moved to Columbus, Ohio, in 2000.
She remembers a few years ago telling people in Ohio her family was moving to Maine. "They said, 'Oh, good luck with that,'" she said, adding that people warned her there were few blacks in Maine.
The warnings about Maine were wrong, she said. "I believe that being with the white people is more safe, more nice. They don't back-stab you. But if you live in a black nation, there's always violence. For me, I love living in a white nation. It's so safe. There's no violence, no gunshots every day."
Older Somali students encouraged Abdille to join the civil rights team when she started high school, so she did. She believes everyone's rights need to be protected.
Like other civil rights workers, she reported there are few problems at her school. "Right now, there's no racism," she said. "I believe with the old generation, there was racism. Our generation that we are now, everybody's getting along."
Lewiston High School is more diverse than other schools, she said. "It feels good here." She's learned about Martin Luther King Jr., Malcolm X and others who fought for civil rights. She identifies with their message that we're all one nation. "We should be part of the nation, not hate each other. That's why we have the civil rights team."
Source: Sun Journal, Jan 20, 2008