By Leanna Yu, Editor-in-Chief
During United Against Hate Week, every Bay Area community joins together in a call for local civic action to stop hate and implicit biases in the area. United Against Hate Week was created by community leaders in direct response to the growing expressions of hate in local communities, with hopes of empowering residents to take action in their own communities and promote tolerance. The movement began from a United Against Hate poster campaign in response to white supremacist rallies in Berkeley and San Francisco in 2017. Since then, cities across the Bay Area have committed to an annual week of action and awareness, with over 60 other cities across the nation. From November 30th to December 4th, Mills students, teachers, and administrators designed virtual campus-wide United Against Hate Week activities for students in replacement of last year’s annual hands-on activities and events.
In the week before United Against Hate Week, Principal Duszynski invited students to share their anti-hate message with the school community through creative mediums consisting of posters, poetry, artwork, speeches, and essays. Six original student submissions were showcased on the Mills High School website, each receiving a special Principal’s Recognition Certificate.
Participant, Hilary Kuang (9), displayed “GSA stands against all hate towards LGBTQ+” over a drawing of lips filled with the colors from the Pride Flag. Kuang commented on the symbolism behind her drawing: “The lip stands for humans because it is a feature that all humans have. It’s meant to remind us that all humans are the same, that we are all equal.” She also elaborated on the reasoning behind her drawing, sharing, “I want [the LGBTQ+] community to know that they don’t need to be afraid because there are always people supporting them. I learned [from this project] that we are born not to be hated, but to be loved.”
Similarly, Anastasia Skyriotis (11) submitted a “We stand united against hate” poster with two hands forming a heart in the center. Skyriotis was inspired to create her artwork by “trying to send the message that everyone needs to realize that we can all be friends with one another, no matter our race, gender, or color of our skin… I wanted to do something to be a part of making a difference at school.” All works of art from students of 9-12 grade levels were also displayed in the PTO Newsletter and the @mhsvikings Instagram page.
On Tuesday, December 1st, students and staff participated in a Zoom photo challenge to change their off-screen avatars to United Against Hate Week messages and representations. Students and staff were able to either make their own backgrounds and profile pictures on Zoom or use example images that Ms. Dove provided to show their commitment to being an upstander and standing against hate in our community. Teachers took screenshots of their classes with these messages as a visual mural to demonstrate Mills’ engagement with allowing others to speak their truth. Additionally, Staysha Veal and Wellness Counselors also hosted a panel and Q&A on “The Impact of Racism, Discrimination, and other Inequities on Mental Health” after school.
From December 3rd to 6th, the San Francisco (SF) Film Society streamed a film series called the Doc Stories. This program, consisting of 13 films, reflects on current tumultuous times through “an inspiring and emotionally complex range of feature-length and short documentary films.” Some teachers, including Ms. Arge, incorporated one of the films, Coded Bias, which explores bias and racism in Artificial Intelligence, into their coursework after school administrators recommended students to watch the film. All students were required to RSVP to receive a link to watch the film at their own time, where registrants had complete access to the film for 24 hours after starting. According to the SF Film Society, the documentary “exposes the ways that AI systems have developed algorithms that can infringe on our privacy and threaten civil rights. From facial recognition software that finds it difficult to distinguish the faces of women and people of color to HR systems that reject applicants with ‘ethnic’ or female names, the impact of these technologies cannot be underestimated.” The film features several women challenging algorithmic bias, uncovering the unchecked power of data collection in everyday lives. Students were also given the opportunity to attend a live Q&A with the Coded Bias Filmmakers on Saturday, December 5th.
On Friday, December 4th, Ms. Schlax held a movie screening of The Hate U Give for students and staff to watch after school. Author, Angie Thomas, published The Hate U Give as her debut young adult (YA) novel in reaction to the police shooting of Oscar Grant— a 22-year-old African American man killed during an encounter with BART police officers on New Year’s Day in 2009. The Hate U Give became an immediate YA bestseller and was adapted into a motion picture a year after its release in 2017. The story centers around 16-year-old, Starr Carter, who learns the importance and costs of speaking out against social injustices after witnessing her childhood friend murdered by police. Both the novel and movie discuss topics related to activism, interracial relationships, police brutality, and racism towards African Americans. The film, shown on Amazon Prime Video, is available to rent for $3.99.
“After the movie, I felt a bunch of emotions and it really made me change the way I view the world. The movie talked about a real world issue that definitely needs to be addressed and also provided different perspectives on privilege.”
– Attendee Katherine Liu (10)
On the @mhsvikings social media account and United Against Hate Week community calendar, staff recommended students to join the “Wear Out the Silence” campaign, supported by Bay Area Showing Up For Racial Justice. The Wear Out the Silence project, started by 14-year-old Maya Nichols and her aunt, asks white people to wear Black Lives Matter t-shirts as a way to deepen racial-justice conversations and understanding of anti-racist thinking and behavior in communities. Supporters are encouraged to buy and wear Black Lives Matter t-shirts every Friday, with all profits going towards black-led organizing (each shirt is $15). In a statement about the campaign, Wear Out the Silence released, “Accountability is very important to us and before moving forward with this campaign sought feedback and support from people of color and movement leaders about the use of the phrase ‘Black Lives Matter’ in a campaign aimed in part, at white people.We want to use these conversations to move more white people into action, and to make visible the many people supporting the Movement For Black Lives.” The project also provides personal stories from allies, conversation guides, and resources from news articles and videos on their website.
Throughout the entire week, teachers were given lesson plans on social studies to share with their classes. The five lesson plans included The Pyramid of Hate, Teaching Tolerance, ADL, and Museum of Tolerance. The Escalation of Hate, a worksheet tailored towards middle and high school students, teaches the Pyramid of Hate for students to examine the escalating nature of hate and to consider the difficulty of stopping the progression once it begins. The Pyramid of Hate has 5 levels, starting with biased attitudes, acts of bias, discrimination, bias-motivated violence, and genocide. Other lesson plans were provided through several online platforms, where teachers could choose various social justice topics in the form of videos, worksheets, or articles.
By learning from each other during United Against Hate Week, students have gained new knowledge and depth of understanding on social justice issues through discussions, films, and campaign projects. With the integration of becoming socially aware through this one week event, the local community must now put words into daily actions.
