Diversity teaches tolerance

It was 25 years ago that much of Los Angeles erupted into flames following the court verdict in the Rodney King case. In this case, four white police officers were acquitted for beating Rodney King into a near death state. Following the court trial of King, riots broke out in a period of three days and much of Los Angeles was vandalized.

Years following these riots, many in Los Angeles aim to bring the community together and reduce racial tensions. With this intention in mind, a diversity workshop was held on April 28 at the Pacific Community Center. Participants were a part of the Youth & Family Services Program, a program that serves Glendale youth and young adults by linking them with community-based social service providers and public service agencies.

Arriving at the Center, I was prompted to follow the other students who walked in, and I was completely surprised at what I saw. The workshop took place inside a room with a white board and only about 20 seats in a circle. Initially, I thought it would be just be a bland classroom that would be used to host a lecture about diversity.

When the workshop started, I was surprised at the types of students I saw. These students came from different high schools ethnicities and backgrounds. The workshop was facilitated by Tosin Balogun, City of Glendale Program Activist Specialist. Balogun runs a teen youth program called Friday Night Live, where students partake in lessons on various topics, trips and fun activities.

Balogun began the workshop by asking students to define diversity. One student said that “diversity is the tolerance of different cultures,” while another student said that “diversity is the mixture of different ethnicities.”

“The main objective of this program is to promote diversity and to get to know people in this room more,” said Balogun after students defined diversity.

To get to know everybody around the room, we started with the first icebreaker called the name game. The rules of the name game were to say your name, give background on where you are from, and explain why your parents chose that name for you. I learned that there were many students in that room with diverse ethnicities and that most of them were immigrants from different parts of the world.

Balogun started off by saying her name and that she was from Nigeria and came to the United States at a young age; her name means “Tony” in English. Students shared their names, what they meant and where they are from. There were students from the Philippines, Armenia, India and Mexico.

The second activity we did was to answer and correct a worksheet about ourselves. The rules of this activity were to answer the worksheet honestly and anonymously. There were about ten questions and they were all personal and related to diversity. Some examples of the questions asked were if your parents were immigrants, are you comfortable with the topic of diversity, have you ever been bullied before, have you ever bullied someone before, and do you believe people are different. After we took some time to answer the questions anonymously, our papers were collected, shuffled around and passed out to different students. Balogun read the answers out loud and if the person who answered the paper said yes you would have to stand up. The mission behind this activity was to discuss certain topics such as bullying, genocide and race.

Balogun would ask students why certain people are not comfortable with diversity, why other people have been bullied, and why parents in general immigrate to America. I believe the purpose of this activity was to reach out to students who disagreed on a question and to give more insight on why diversity is important in the community without having anyone feel uncomfortable by stepping forward.

The third activity was followed by partnering up with someone in the room and answering a worksheet on the Holocaust. The worksheet was formatted to match the terms to the correct definitions. Some terms included genocide, Holocaust, anti-Semitism, prejudice, tolerance and propaganda. The purpose of this activity was to teach students that discrimination because of ethnicity leads to violence and an endless cycle of hate.

Another reason why this worksheet was given was to discuss the events of the Holocaust and history of the Museum of Tolerance. Balogun said that the museum is an excellent way to learn about the events of the Holocaust since some of the tours teach about Holocaust and since the museum is interactive.

Jacqueline Balition, recreational specialist for the City of Glendale, is the main host of Teen’s Nights Out. She said that she wanted to create a diversity workshop to promote ethnic diversity. “I wanted to teach the young minds about diversity since we live in a community with different ethnic groups,” Balition said. “It is important to teach the young minds more about diversity because it teaches them how to treat their classmates with respect.”

No matter where an individual goes in their daily life, ultimately they will have to work together with different cultures to create an effective work environment, Balition said. “At the end of the day, everybody is the same regardless of color,” Balition said. “We all have different background and values that are beneficial to society.”

Many of the participants had positive reactions to the program. Said one high school sophomore; “I love how the City of  Glendale is offering a chance for teenagers to participate in fun activities. It really gives a chance for teenagers like us to make new friends.”

Another high school students said that he also found value in the purpose of the program. “I enjoyed the Diversity Workshop because it teaches students more about race and that’s something we don’t get taught enough as teenagers,” he said.

As part of the Teen Night’s Out, several members were volunteers from various GUSD school such as Clark Magnet, Glendale and Hoover High Schools.

Freshman Giovanni Zarrour has volunteered for the Teen Night’s Out Group and a couple of diversity workshops. “I wanted to volunteer here because it was a unique way to get service hours,” Zarrour said. “I also get to participate in fun activities in the Diversity Workshop.” Zarrour believes that it is vital to teach high school students about diversity so they have a clear understanding about equality in a high school environment.

Every month the City of Glendale offers new events for teenagers who are part of the Teen Night’s Out. Summer concerts are being held at July 5 through August 9 for families to interact and bond with their children. This concert will be held every Wednesday from 6:30 p.m. to 8:30 p.m. at Verdugo park for free. There will be different entertainers each Wednesday, including Verdugo Swing Society, Bobby and the Gypsies, and the Country Nation.

Another type of event the City of Glendale holds for students and teenagers are Day Camps. Day Camps are used for teenagers to participate in fun activities. Some examples of a Day Camp is the Blast Camp where students participate in swimming, games, arts, crafts, and many more activities. In order to partake in the Day Camps, a teenager must show proof of residency in Glendale and must pay a fee of $120 per week for each teenager that wishes to join the Day Camps.