On the Day of Silence, we share with you the story of one middle school that provided the space for all of its students to have their voices heard.
"Forming a Gay Straight Alliance at a middle school requires courage—for the administrator to step up, for the teacher who serves as the advisor, and for each student who walks through that door to be a member."
By Dr. Becki Cohn-Vargas, Not In Our School Director
My daughter knew she was gay from when she was a young girl, but it wasn’t until middle school that she told me. Not all young people have someone to talk to at that sensitive age.
Blog
April 18, 2012 - 1:48pm
"This is a community where pain is often ignored or pushed aside. Often times people are told to get on with life. Forget about it. It's in the past," said Chief Egunwale Amuscan, one of the organizers. "We're going to go into this community and let them know that love is the only thing that's real and we're going to show that love for self is the most important aspect."
Read more at KJRH
Coverage from KJRH documents the coming-together of the North Tulsa community after the Good Friday shootings that left three residents dead and two wounded, considered the worst crime in the city's modern history.
April 17, 2012 - 5:30pm
In recognition of Immigrant Heritage Week, which was established by New York City Mayor Bloomberg in 2004 and runs from April 17-24, we have compiled Not In Our School/Not In Our Town videos centered around immigration. Whether they are students hosting a lunch-time demonstration, a policy-maker reflecting on his own history, or a group of librarians providing services for immigrants in their community--the people in the following videos share their own unique stories of how their actions have led to vital conversations about immigration in their own communities. View the collection here.
April 12, 2012 - 9:49am
In a few hours, the end-of-day bell will ring at Gunn High School and students will gather in the school squad with a scream. After a daylong vow of silence—representing the inability of many teens to express themselves fully because of sexual orientation or gender identity—this communal scream will symbolize the "Breaking of the Silence" that is felt by LGBTQ youth and allies.
The Day of Silence activity is just one of many during Gunn's Not In Our School Week. The Palo Alto, Calif. high school has hosted a Not In Our School for nearly a decade to "promote acceptance, awareness and identity safety."
