Not In Our Town

Scene from Light In the Darknes In Not In Our Town: Light in the Darkness, we witness how students can become upstanders, even in the wake of violent hate crimes. The 60-minute documentary premiered on PBS in 2011, but is now available for purchase as a 27-minute classroom version. This film is extremely pertinent to the educational community for several reasons. In addition to the importance of learning about how the community came together to respond to hate, it brings up serious questions for educators, for example:  How did these young people routinely participate in what they called "beaner-hopping" ("beaner" is a racial slur and "beaner-hopping" refers to beating up Latino immigrants) without their teachers and parents noticing? Why did other students who knew what was going on never speak up? What was the impact of the media's hateful rhetoric on the attitudes of youth in the schools? Educators across the U.S. have begun to use the film as a springboard for addressing issues of immigration, bullying, and teaching students to be upstanders (speak up and take action).

New York City immigrant groups and communities joined together to watch Not In Our Town: Light in the Darkness during Immigrant Heritage Week in late April. The film was screened eight times across the city—in Queens, Chinatown, Brooklyn and the Bronx—sparking discussions about how to address the challenge of hate and bias.  At the Bronx Museum, NYC Commissioner of Immigrant Affairs Fatima Shama led the post-screening discussion with filmmaker and executive producer Patrice O'Neill. The event was attended by members of the Bangladeshi, West African, African-American, and Puerto Rican communities. Three groups at the event pledged to hold other screenings in the Bronx in the coming month. 

"This history of slavery, segregation, discrimination, and racism has been so well hidden that it has allowed the university community to isolate itself from the continuing legacy of that history, even as elements of the past continue to shape the university, neighboring communities and beyond." With a rich history that dates back to 1819, the University of Virginia (UVa) in Charlottesville, VA was founded by Thomas Jefferson and is one of the oldest universities in the nation. While the founding father's legacy is the shining testament to the university's success, it also veils a troubled history of racism and intolerance that, since university policy changes led to the enrollment of the first African-American undergraduate student in 1950, continued to resurface on the campus more than half a century later.

Hazing: any action, taken or situation created intentionally that causes embarrassment, harassment or ridicule, risks emotional or physical harm, to members of an organization or team, whether new or not, regardless of the person's willingness to participate.   The Alpha Theta Phi sorority at the University of Redlands is breaking new ground.  In October, the students held a Not On Our Campus week to bring awareness to hazing, pledging to stop the hurtful—and sometimes fatal—practice on university campuses.    Earlier in the year, university and sorority alumnna Lauri Massari stepped forward to conduct an anti-hazing training, as a service to the Office of Student Life. But she took it one step further, offering a $500 scholarship to conduct a Not On Our Campus week of activities, the first of its kind at the  university.   "This has not been an easy task for these young women because fraternity and sorority traditions at the University of Redlands are 100 years in the making and do not readily embrace the changes required in eliminating hazing," Massari said.