Oak Park High students stress acceptance over intolerance
By Sophia Fischer sfischer@theacorn.com

SOPHIA FISCHER/Acorn Nerwspapers JOIN HANDS- "Acceptance" was the theme at Oak Park High School in early December as students participate in a week of activities designed to promote understanding. Seth Baxter of Thousand Oaks spoke to students about discrimination based on his own experiences. Baxter, center, gathers with students, from left, Adee Rozov, Alice Wang, Arielle Spinner and Lauren Rosen.

Merely tolerating those who are different from oneself does not go deep enough, according to students at Oak Park High School. In a continuation of last year's Tolerance Week, students in the Advanced Peer Counseling group hosted "Beyond Tolerance . . . Acceptance Week," a series of events held over five days early this month.

"Acceptance Week succeeded in raising awareness about why it is important to embrace each other's differences," said Zach Wechter, Acceptance Week chair. "But even more importantly, the OPHS students succeeded in taking an active stance against the problem by participating in our activities, starting to spread the message of acceptance themselves, and simply treating others more kindly."

The idea for an annual week of acceptancerelated events was generated last year after several hate incidents took place on campus. This year, students and parents were invited to participate in assemblies, lunchtime activities and guided meetings.

The week kicked off with "Rachel's Challenge," a prejudice-reduction program based on the writings of Rachel Scott, the first person killed in the 1999 Columbine High School shootings. Other activities included classroom discussions designed to promote diversity. A student-produced video involving two bigoted teens seeing the world from others' perspectives was screened.

An "acceptance fair" featured interactive presentations exposing students to the various faces of discrimination, including race, religion, money, age, sexual orientation, disabilities, appearance and gender.

Changing the event's name from tolerance to acceptance sparked discussions among students, according to Tess Wilkoff, an Oak Park High counselor and peer counseling advisor. Some students questioned the virtues of accepting others whose viewpoints dramatically conflict with their own- skinheads for example, Wilkoff said.

"You don't need to embrace that philosophy but you do need to accept the person as a human being," Wilkoff said.

For future acceptance weeks, Wilkoff hopes to involve more students in the programming.

"If everyone could have gone through every piece of what's available at the end of the week, everyone would have gone through a transformation because of the quality of what's been offered," she said.

An after-school meeting featured Seth Baxter, a Thousand Oaks speaker who runs acceptance seminars through Triunfo YMCA. He discussed his own experiences with prejudice and homelessness, and teaching acceptance to others. Owner and operator of the Hip Hop Cafe and the Spoken Drum, Baxter played music to underscore his message, including "People Lead," by Ben Harper.

"I love the power of words in music," Baxter said. "Close your eyes and say the word 'peace.' Doesn't the word elicit something inside you?"

Baxter asked students if they had been involved in conversations that were derogatory to other cultural and racial groups and whether they had tried to stop such conversations. Audience members stood up for each of Baxter's questions, signaling yes or no.

"Stand if you hear all this negative stuff and you don't know what you can do to contribute," Baxter said. "You're doing it now by being here."

Baxter urged students to focus on what they have in common with others, rather than the obvious differences. He calls the concept "one love," something he credits his father with passing on to him.

"He was born during a time when racial issues had a big impact on his life and choices," said Baxter, whose father died two months ago. "What he left me with was this treasure that I believe in and practice."

Baxter knows the importance of getting along with others from personal experience. He has 19 siblings. Some were adopted by his missionary parents. Baxter often referred to his siblings and parents and the lessons they taught him. He described his sister's reaction to having been beaten up by classmates on the way home from school. Instead of being angry, she forgave her attackers.

"She said, 'they'll never understand me if I hate them, so I'll forgive them,'" Baxter said.

After moving to California, Baxter lost his job and ended up homeless. He slept in a beachside parking lot. One day a woman approached him and asked if he would help her move her things for $20.

"I was so surprised because she trusted me and was willing to give me a chance," Baxter said. "People can love very easily if they are open to it."

The audience of students, parents and teachers responded positively to Baxter's message.

"I see a person who's trying to get an important message across and I hope he's successful," said Susan Kaye, parent of junior Ilana Kaye.

Juniors Alice Wang, Arielle Spinner and Adee Rozov said they felt Baxter connected with everyone in the audience.

"I think he was very good at communicating the idea of love and acceptance and may inspire people to act differently," Alice said.