It Gets Better: Original song from Palo Alto teen

  I just wanted to give a quick shout out to Julian for coming up w/ a creative response to the harassment and bullying about issues of sexual orientation that are sadly all too common experiences for many LGBTQ youth (and adults) in classrooms and communities across the country, indeed the globe.  Not only is his song a powerful call to sustain hope, but it’s also a profound act of solidarity. Sometimes simply knowing that one is not alone in their suffering may be enough to interrupt more destructive thoughts. His song reminds me of Bayard Rustin, a central figure in the Civil Rights Movement who many people don’t even know, primarily because he was an out gay African American man at a time when many aspects of his identity were the source of denigration. More recently his story has come to light through the wonderful film, Brother Outsider: The Life of Bayard Rustin. In the film, Bayard speaks of the need to generate creative conflicts and while I don’t see Julian’s song as creating conflict, it’s certainly a creative response. Another similar gesture can be seen in the documentary, Not In Our Town: Northern California: When Hate Happens Here, another film by The Working Group and available in Facing History’s Library, as is Brother Outsider.  In the segment of the film, Reversing Vandalism the S.F. Public Library sends out an RFP to artists for art projects that could use the dozens of vandalized books written by LBGTQ authors or covering that subject matter and the projects that came back from around the globe were nothing less than spectacular.  Keep up the good work Julian! In solidarity