Students explore empathy and nonviolence

Doug Tabbert

Is it more important to be sexy or smart in our society? Do you

believe that everyone in America has a chance to succeed? Are there

times when violence is the only solution? These were just a few of

the questions posed to Orange County students Friday at the Walk in

my Shoes tolerance symposium.

Presented by the Orange County Human Relations Committee, the

day-long event sought to promote intercultural understanding and

violence prevention, according to executive director Rusty Kennedy.

Students from throughout Orange County, including 19 from two

Huntington Beach middle schools, took part in the conference at UC

Irvine on Friday. It was the eighth event geared toward middle school

students.

Going into the seminars some students thought that America was a

level playing field. But many changed their minds when Trudy

Ibbetson, a Spring View teacher, pointed out that poverty is a strain

on those striving to succeed.

After that students cased to timidly agree with one another and

began to voice opinions about immigration, welfare, violated privacy

and suicide bombers.

Students signed up for three of 17 workshops that included an

array of topics including a bully’s motivation, steps students have

taken for a safer campus, the Japanese internment camps during World

War II, street theater and political activism.

“Many people are mean to others ... they treat others as if they

are not real people at all, as if they never existed,” said Samantha

Day, a sixth-grader a Spring View Middle School.

One work shop, “Center of the Universe,” was a play by the Phantom

Projects Educational Group. It depicted victims of discrimination

while attempting to convey the preciousness and vulnerability of all

human life.

“Don’t judge people by their skin or their religion,” said Kylee

Lappin, an 11-year-old Spring View student of what she learned.