Fighting Virtual Hate
A petition circulating on Change.org is calling for Twitter to adopt a “report abuse” button. After Caroline Criado-Perez successfully campaigned for Jane Austen to be featured on Britain’s 10-pound note, she began to receive an onslaught of rape and death threats via Twitter. Now, over 60,000 people have signed the petition, calling for Twitter to take stronger measures against online hate.
California
Twister brings divided Alabama community together
CREDIT: CBS Atlanta
The Public Opinion reports that a twister that devastated the Alabama neighborhood of Kikpatrick in March has helped to bring the community together.
Mapping hate across U.S.Data visualization company Floating Sheep has produced a fascinating map of the mainland U.S. which charts the use of hate speech on twitter. The so-called “hate map” shows the frequency of geotagged tweets containing certain certain racist, homophobic and ableist terms, the end result being an interactive map highlighting hate hot spots across the country.
Soledad High School in Soledad, CA is in its second year of implementing its Not In Our School campaign. We are happy to give the first NIOS club seniors “Not In Our School” sashes to proudly wear at their graduation ceremony.
NIOS Director Becki Cohn-Vargas recently interviewed NIOS Club members Alex, Robert, Daisy and Ivan. In this interview, these students share how taking a leadership stance against bullying on their campus has helped them grow personally and what they have learned since starting a NIOS club.
Becki: When you guys started the cyberbullying club, you gathered some data. What did you find out?
Alex: What we found out was it seemed like people were more willing to allow bullying to happen, people just didn’t care. It’s funny, people often say that they will stand up to others, and they won’t let anyone encroach on their territory, but from what we saw through the surveys is that people just don’t care. They’ll let other people get shoved.
Davis, CA community supports victim of anti-LGBT hate crime
CREDIT: Davis Enterprise
Three hundred people in Davis, CA attended a candlelit vigil on March 16 for Mikey Partida, a Davis resident who was badly beaten earlier this month in what police are investigating as a hate crime.
Above: The building targeted with hate speech at UC Berkeley, from Berkleyside. Below: UCLA, from KPCC.
In addition to our films and resources, Not In Our School wants to share with you the inspiring practices of teachers and administrators who are bringing the anti-bullying mission to their classrooms and campuses. Today we spotlight the work of Abbott Middle School in San Mateo, CA.
Abbott Middle School has created a Campus Climate Committee with a range of exciting and interactive activities. As part of this work, Abbott teachers have also made a “promise” to support their students.
The Campus Climate Committee (CCC) includes students, parents, and teachers. The students developed activities to address areas of concern such as rumors, the isolation of bullied students, and being an upstander. The committee worked to promote awareness among students and staff on the problems that occur when bullying is left unchecked, and how to proactively engage in intervening.
Abbott teacher Jordan Sher shares their journey with us, walking us through recommended activities and a teacher promise that other schools can use and adapt. Read Sher's piece, "Creating a Campus Climate Committee" on NotInOurSchool.org.
Lancaster, CA continues Not In Our School campaign into its 3rd year! The city of Lancaster, CA, where a segment of our PBS documentary Not In Our Town: Class Actions was filmed, is in their third year of a community-wide NIOS Campaign! Students, teachers, and board members all participated in the Nov. 13 city council meeting to sign a proclamation against bullying in schools, according to the Antelope Valley Times. They signed banners renewing their pledge against bullying and promised to be upstanders whenever they see bullying occur. We are excited to watch the campaign’s continued success Lancaster!
“Regardless of whether she was Eddie or Gwen, she was still my kid.”
—Sylvia Guerrero, Gwen Araujo’s mother
Today is the International Transgender Day of Rememberance. Groups around the world are preparing marches, candlelight vigils and film screenings to memorialize transgender victims of hate crimes.
On this day, we remember Gwen Araujo, a transgender teen who was murdered in 2002. After Gwen was killed by local youth in the Silicon Valley suburb of Newark, high school students, residents and civic leaders respond, and in so doing, they struggle with how to deal with a brutal and preventable crime.
Their efforts are captured in this 5-minute film:
"Staging a Response to Hate" is part of Not In Our Town: Northern California. You can find the DVD and free educational guide here. To find a local remembrance event near you, visit http://www.transgenderdor.org/.