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| Transforming A Climate Of Fear: Why And How Youth LEAD Teaches Young People To Engage Across Differences |
Divya Chandramouli
06/09/2016
May 27 – 29th, Emerson College, Boston, MA
Transforming a Climate of Fear: Why and How Youth LEAD Teaches Young People to Engage Across Differences
In a climate of increasing racial, religious and ethnic tensions, fear of difference is rampant. Teens at the Memorial Day Weekend TIDE Conference proved that youth can bridge chasms of misunderstanding and prejudice.
High school teens from Youth LEAD (Leaders Engaging Across Difference), a Massachusetts-based organization that trains youth to facilitate pluralistic dialogue and increase understanding across identity divides, facilitated their annual TIDE Conference on May 27 – 29th at Emerson College in Boston, MA.
A diverse group of over 70 high school students took part, representing nine Massachusetts school districts. “I was so empowered about everything that took place (at the TIDE Conference)â€, said Randy, a participant from Dorchester, “that I want to know how can we make this amazing program run for [longer in the future].â€
The conference gave students from Boston, Brockton, Sharon, Milton, and beyond, the opportunity to engage in youth-led dialogue about issues of identity and understand how those differences can lead to conflict. The final workshops gave participants the skills to “lean-in†to conversations about race, religion, class and gender, turning fear and misunderstanding into respectful understanding of differences.
What’s the impact of a conference like this? "Now that I'm a teacher, I see that many of my students are nervous to speak against the crowd," said Sarah Raykhtsaum, one of the symposium panelists and a Youth LEAD alumna. She explained that the TIDE Conference and Youth LEAD gave her the communication skills to create spaces where others can feel respected and safe to express very different points of view.
Similarly, several of the teen participants echoed that the ‘safe space’ of the conference helped them feel like “they could say what they wanted and share different perspectives without any fear of judgment,†and that they were always met with “open-mindedness and friendliness, not hostility.†This feeling of being welcomed and respected unequivocally is perhaps what prompted many of the TIDE participants to mark the weekend as being “one of the best in their lives.â€
The workshops, dialogues, and other activities throughout the weekend allowed participants to reflect deeply about their own identities, cultivate empathy and recognize how their peers see themselves, and return to their own communities with newfound skills to increase understanding among diverse groups of people.
The TIDE Conference gave teens the ability to:
• Recognize and understand their own beliefs in a nuanced way.
• Give “different†a name and a face.
• Construct a safe space among with their peers and learn what acceptance and open-mindedness feel like.
• Develop a “toolkit†of communication and listening skills that can transfer to other people and situations outside the immediate group.
• Develop the speaking and listening ability they’ll need to influence others in positive and compassionate ways.
• Work to make those around them more accepting of differences in gender, ethnicity, race, class, age, ability, and other identity categories.
• Gain inspiration by learning about the incredible social justice work done by their peers.
• Give them hope in a world that often seems hopeless
• Set them up for effective leadership in an increasingly global economy.
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