Students learn about racial discrimination
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Michael D'Innocenzo, professor for the study of nonviolent social change, right, comments on the thoughts of Malverne High School student Deja Mitchell, 16, left, during a symposium on the challenges of advancing race relations in schools and society at Hofstra University. (Oct. 25, 2011) Credit: Barry Sloan
Middle and high school students from across Long Island tackled issues of race, equality and school integration at a Hofstra University conference Tuesday, with several saying that while important strides have been made, more still needs to be done.
"Some people felt that we are falling back, but we are not really falling back, we just haven't come as far as we could have," said Lauren Weisburg, 14, a freshman at Garden City High School.
Nearly 150 students attended the symposium, "Educational Equity and Race: Views from Middle and High School Students," which kicked off a three-day conference at Hofstra on the challenges of advancing race relations in schools and society. Tuesday, students heard from Millicent Brown, a history professor at Claflin University, who was a visiting professor at Hofstra in the 2010-11 academic year. Brown was a seventh-grader in Charleston, S.C., when she became the named plaintiff in a desegregation lawsuit decided in 1963.
"The students got it -- that we are living in some kind of illusion that things are better and wonderful isn't going to actually bring us to a society that is transformed," said Brown, whose project, "Somebody Had to Do It: Voices of Desegregation Pioneers," seeks to create a database to preserve the stories of so-called first children.
Students broke into small groups to discuss such topics as bias, civil rights history, and the lack of integration in many Long Island school districts. An academic study released earlier this year found that Long Island ranked as the seventh most segregated major metropolitan area in the country, according to an analysis that found black-white integration has changed little since 2000.
"I gained a better view of what it is like in schools all over Long Island," said Philip Hofsiss, 17, a senior at Huntington High School. "The view is it is still rare and we are not 100 percent integrated as we should be."
In addition to the Huntington district, students came from Hempstead, Levittown, Uniondale, Garden City and Malverne. Emmanuel Adeyeye, 16, a junior at Malverne High School, said he was surprised that middle school students attended the event, "but it's a great opportunity," he said. "They are learning about history and equality."
One middle school student, James Lunetta, 13, an eighth-grader in Levittown, said he learned that "it is important so future generations can learn and it can never happen again."
Wednesday, a daylong discussion on power, resistance and democracy will be held on campus. Thursday, Brown will lead an afternoon panel of speakers who, as children, were named plaintiffs in post-Brown desegregation lawsuits as part of a daylong symposium, "From Brown (1954) to Brown (1963) and Beyond: The Challenges to Advancing Race Relations in Schools and Society."
It culminates Thursday night with a 7 p.m. town hall meeting, free and open to the public at Hofstra's student center, with a discussion by activists, including Hempstead Town Councilwoman Dorothy Goosby and Julius and Joysetta Pearse, co-founders of the African Atlantic Genealogical Society.
Huntington High School senior Violet Murphy, 17, said small changes could make a difference.
"It all starts with what you believe," she said. "And changes can be made at home and in our community."
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