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December 7, 2001
Finding common ground
Brad Hill, Chandra Roberts and Jacey Fortin interviewed students at the "It's Time to Talk" forum. This is what they heard:
"I think the most important part of what we did today is when we walked out into the circle and identified ourselves with the other people, because it gave us common ground so that we could talk to each other about other issues like race, sexuality, religion, and things like that."
- Sahuaro senior Jeff Gardner
"I got some different perspectives from other people, some new thoughts on the way they viewed racism. It was a good experience just to hear their experiences compared to mine.
"We were planning to start a Diversity Culture club, as something that can hopefully help unify our school. At Mountain View, racism usually doesn't happen during class; it happens during passing periods. We want to try to eliminate that, just to have everyone be aware of different cultures.
- Mountain View junior Reynita Main
"I like the culture walk. At some point we walked with everyone, and if you try hard enough you'll realize you have something in common with everyone"
- Palo Verde junior Soun-Ja Walters
"Everyone gets together and shares their experiences, and when they're truthful it's like a breakthrough for us."
- Tucson High junior Monica Martinez
"What I got from it that was really surprising was that I think - especially with the activities in the circle - everything is based on perception. You might not understand where someone is coming from, you might not even have thought of it, but then we're all the same person. On the inside we're all human, never mind black, white, Mexican, Asian, whatever, we're all humans on the inside."
- Pueblo High senior Raul Moreno
"It is good to know that you can meet other people and just see how they are without being nervous or being afraid of it."
- Dodge eighth-grader Lauren Ruggeroli
"It is OK to be yourself and be proud of it."
- Mansfeld eighth-grader Teddy Raven
". . . a lot of the things I hear are just stereotypes and I want to learn about other cultures."
- Mountain View junior Ericka Hicks
"I'll try to be more understanding than I already am."
- Mansfeld seventh-grader Mounir Koussa
"Getting to know different people, it kind of shows you that everyone should be equal."
- Teen-age Parent Program senior Guadalupe Serrano
"I hope to learn about other cultures and their traditions, and about their setbacks and how they get through them."
- Mountain View senior Monet Valenzuela
"Being around everyone - all these people who are different - it helps you understand more about people and not to judge them by just one thing."
- Teen-age Parent Program eighth-grader Lashonda Juniel
"One important thing today was we all got to know somebody, and we knew that we were all different and not just like one. But instead of feeling so left out, everybody felt like they accomplished something."
- Dodge eighth-grader Leah Majalca
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