By Dr. Becki Cohn-Vargas
Not In Our School Director
In a recent NIOT blog, we shared how student leaders from the Not In Our School anti-bullying campaign at Marshalltown High School in Iowa were the ones who spoke up and averted a school shooting. In this four-part series, we will explore the issues of school violence, show one elementary school's activities to stop school violence and offer a two-part exploration of the restorative justice model, a promising strategy for interrupting and ending cycles of violence.
Youth Violence
Adults distinguish between brutal teasing, bullying, fighting, and a school shooting, but all these behaviors are part of a continuum of youth violence. Behaviors on this continuum can easily escalate.
Blog
May 1, 2014 - 6:05pm
As the debacle of Donald Sterling riveted the attention of many this week it shone a light on (again) the benevolent racism that is so persistent in our country. Like many, Mr. Sterling would not consider himself a racist. In the tape released this week by TMZ he admonishes his biracial African-American and Latina girlfriend for taking photos with black people and posting them on the web. He says “Yeah it bothers me a lot that you want to promo, broadcast, that you’re associating with black people. Do you have to?”
May 1, 2014 - 2:51pm
By Rachel Burke Koslofsky
Last Monday, I led our family’s Second Annual Interfaith Skype Passover Seder. At 6 p.m. California time and 9 p.m. Kentucky time, each segment of the family crowded around a computer screen to participate. This offbeat tradition was born out of an experimental seder set in Kentucky during Holy Week of 2012—and fueled by curiosity.
April 29, 2014 - 6:19pm
While there was broad media coverage of the devastating hate crime killings of three people at Jewish centers in Overland Park, KS, the story of the powerful actions of local community members to respond to these crimes went largely unreported in the national media.
Young people take the lead in bringing people together
Four days after the attack, local teens led a candlelight vigil to remember the victims and affirm their sense of community. They were joined by more than 3,000 people of all backgrounds and ages.
Kansas City Public Television (KCPT) and Not In Our Town (NIOT) covered the teen vigil in this inspiring video, and are teaming up to follow community action in the aftermath of the attack.
The hate attack at Jewish Centers in Overland Park, Kansas
April 28, 2014 - 4:39pm
In honor of Holocaust Remembrance Day, we share this video from the March of the Living in Budapest, Hungary.