Students and Teachers Opposing Prejudice

A Brief History of the “ Students and Teachers Opposing Prejudice” (STOP) Program

By Darren E. Lund

We have all heard the saying that “youth are the leaders of tomorrow” in challenging racism and other forms of discrimination, but I disagree. Instead, I concur with Roger Clark, the former Secretary-General to Amnesty International Canada, who insists: “Youth are not the leaders of tomorrow. They are the leaders of today!” For over 16 years I had the privilege of working with hundreds of young people who eagerly took on voluntary leadership roles in a school-based coalition dedicated to promoting the value of pluralism through antiracism education and activism.

I offer below a brief overview of the formation and activities of our antiracism action group. The STOP group formed spontaneously in 1987 in an unlikely “non-academic” literature class during my rookie year of teaching high school English at Lindsay Thurber Comprehensive High School (population about 1900 students) in Red Deer, a small city with a population (at that time) of about 70,000 people in the western Canadian province of Alberta.

For 20 school years it was a popular extracurricular school program, and was widely recognized for leadership in innovative approaches to challenging racism and other forms of discrimination (i.e., Alberta Human Rights and Citizenship Commission, 2000; Canadian Race Relations Foundation, 2001). In addition, STOP was awarded a 2001 Award of Distinction from the Canadian Race Relations Foundation, and was named “Freedom Fighter of the Month” for March 2000 by the rock band, Rage Against the Machine.

In what could be considered a volatile social climate, the STOP program actively engaged students, teachers, parents, administration, other school staff, government, media, and community agencies in a collective effort to challenge racism and other forms of discrimination. More detailed information about the STOP group’s efforts appears in other sources (e.g., Lund 1998; 2000). The storm of initial national media interest in the group was most likely due to our area’s unfortunate but undeniable national reputation for extremist hate group activity in the 1980s.

Students who formed STOP realized that they could take proactive steps toward educating others on the dangers of discrimination and the value of diversity, rather than confronting right-wing extremists. For example, when the Central Alberta town of Provost endured a publicized cross-burning at a hate rally, STOP members volunteered a weekend to work with students there. STOP members became aware that in the early 1980s, two homes in Red Deer had been targets of cross-burnings, later reported in Baergen (2000) and Kinsella (2001). Together the students shared ideas and resources in a collective effort to counter hate groups.

One idea that emerged from this interchange was to organize a school-wide Human Rights Awareness Week, featuring noon hour forums with antiracist “skinhead punks” from SHARP (Skinheads Against Racial Prejudice), the president of the World Sikh Organization, a former university professor from Iran—then a caretaker at the school—and the chair of the Alberta Human Rights Commission.

When the national head of the Simon Wiesenthal Centre in Toronto traveled to Red Deer in 1989 to present STOP with a “Courage to Remember” 40-poster series on the Holocaust, the group decided to laminate the posters and donate them to the school district for educational use by teachers and community agencies. Student interest led STOP to organize an annual Holocaust Awareness Symposium in conjunction with the Calgary Jewish Centre. Since 1994, several actual survivors of Nazi concentration camps have spoken to thousands of high school students in central Alberta.

When a Sikh man was denied entry into Red Deer’s Royal Canadian Legion meeting room because he was wearing unauthorized “headgear” (his turban), STOP members wrote compelling letters to the parties involved and to the media. STOP also invited the victim to address a group of about 300 high school students and shine light on Sikh faith. International awareness campaigns have included awareness events on specific human rights issues in Tibet and Nigeria that involved participation by local and national politicians, organizing and sending petitions, showing videos, booking guest speakers, mounting local protest events, holding symbolic ceremonies, and inviting other students to get educated and involved.

Other STOP activities included awareness campaigns on violence against women, including annual “white ribbon” campaigns and a gender-inclusive “Take Back the Night” event that features films, speakers, a march to City Hall, and a candlelight vigil for all victims of violence. In 2000, STOP formed Alberta’s first-ever Gay/Straight Alliance program to raise awareness and prevent discrimination against gays and lesbians in the school and community.

Students also took on local, provincial and national politicians on multicultural and human rights policies and, and specifically, on Alberta’s own human rights record. Specific student and teacher activism included the interrogation of school policies and curriculum materials, presentations to government officials, drama presentations to children, organizing local protests, international human rights advocacy, and public debates with political leaders.

In addition, STOP received tens of thousands of dollars in grants and other financial support for its various projects from a number of governmental and community agencies, including the federal Secretary of State for Youth, the Canadian Race Relations Foundation, the Alberta Association for Multicultural Education, Alberta Culture and Multiculturalism, the Kiwanis Club, and the Central Alberta Diversity Project.

Over the years, several similar school action groups formed in response to encouragement from STOP, and our members informally advised numerous other school antiracism coalitions on strategies for attracting members, dealing with the media, sustaining student interest, gaining administrative support, and working collaboratively with other community groups. STOP members were often called upon to present at youth meetings, and I have spoken to educators and students across the country on innovative ways to tackle diversity proactively.

In each of these activities, students and teachers found a way to work together to address needs in their school and community in a manner that modeled the cooperation and respect the STOP group always sought to promote. So many students have a strong sense of social justice and the energy and idealism to seek to make progressive changes in our society, and all they need is a vehicle to channel their ideas and energy. Teachers and other adults wishing to assist them need to facilitate their activism while leaving ownership of coalitions in the hands of the students.

I would strongly recommend any young people with an interest in social justice to begin to take individual and collaborative action in your schools and communities. As today’s leaders, you can teach adult activists a great deal about commitment, enthusiasm, and relevance in our collective efforts to make the world a better place.

References

Alberta Human Rights and Citizenship Commission. (2000, May). Tools for Transformation: Human Rights Education and Diversity Initiatives in Alberta. Edmonton, AB: Government of Alberta.

Baergen, W. P. (2000). The Ku Klux Klan in Central Alberta. Red Deer, AB: Central Alberta Historical Society.

Canadian Race Relations Foundation. (2001). CRRF 2001 Best Practices Reader. Toronto, ON: Author.

Kinsella, W. (2001). Web of hate: Inside Canada’s far right network (2nd. ed.). Toronto, ON: Harper Collins.

Lund, D. E. (1998). Social justice activism in a conservative climate: Students and teachers challenging discrimination in Alberta. Our Schools/Our Selves, 9(4), 24-38.

Lund, D. E. (2000). Young people mobilizing on human rights issues. In G. S. Bhatia, J. S. O’Neill, G. L. Gall, & P. D. Bendin (Eds.), Peace, justice, and freedom: Human rights challenges for the new millennium (pp. 199-206). Edmonton, AB: University of Alberta Press.