(Vol. 1, No. 2 - Spring 1997)

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Kids at Marshall Middle School believe
"it's up to us to end the racism."

Racial and cultural diversity are hallmarks of many urban school systems, but perhaps none more so than Long Beach Unified. The 80,000-plus young people who fill the classrooms of LBUSD represent one of the richest ethnic mixes in the nation. As the world shrinks and the borders of nations become more transparent, LBUSD's diversity may come to be seen as one of its greatest assets. Before that can happen, though, some long-standing barriers, rooted in tradition and fear, will have to be torn down.

A group of students at Marshall Middle School believe the people in the best position to tear down those barriers are today's elementary and middle school kids -- young people whose minds haven't completely closed to the possibilities of friendship and cooperation across racial and ethnic divides. They call themselves "Diversity Ambassadors" or "DAs" for short. And what they've accomplished in one school could be a lesson to every school in Long Beach and urban America.

John Norton talked with four eighth grade DA's at Marshall -- Tom Do, Peter Magaña, Jesus Ocegueda and Jill Smalley. We also talked with the Marshall teacher, Francine Curtis, who helped bring the Diversity Ambassadors to life.

Why did you get involved with Diversity Ambassadors?

Jill Smalley: Last year, the learning director at Marshall asked teachers to suggest people who they thought would be good leaders to other students and could help other people solve things. When they asked me, I said yes, because I like to help people and I like to help solve problems.
Jesus Ocegueda: I joined this year because I wanted to be a leader and I like to help people. I like to speak out what I feel is wrong with the world today. I want to be proud of myself going up to graduation this year that I was a Diversity Ambasssador.

Peter Magaña: From my point of view, there's too much racism and sexism going on in the work area and in schools. I figure we can make it stop as long as we start in our schools. Maybe it won't be so widespread.

Tom Do: I want people to have a healthier life when they're going to school, not living in fear. I just want to help people solve conflicts and avoid a lot of racial slurs and fighting.

What does a Diversity Ambassador do?

Jill: We help people solve conflicts. We talk with them about it, but we don't tell them what to do. We let the people themselves decide what the answers to the conflicts are. We have fund-raisers and the Diversity Assembly, which shows different cultures.

Peter: We handle disputes and stuff going on on the playground and in the classrooms. We have training. We had former hard-core gang members come in and talk recently. One student from this school has a brother who's in a hard-core gang. He told us that he was outside in his front yard playing with his dog and his friends, and some guys in a car came up and did a bad thing -- they shot one of his friends right in front of him. Hearing this kind of story helps the kids in our school really think about what can happen if we don't solve our conflicts.

Tom: Last week I was called a racial name -- a "Nip" -- but I kept neutral. I didn't really want to get mad; if you're a Diversity Ambassador, you can't get mad and say a racial name back. You have to stay neutral and explain to the people why they don't have to say that and how they can express themselves in a different way.

What were the relationships like between different groups when you first came to school here?

Peter: When we first came here there was all this fighting between the different groups. Like there was this one big fight out on the field, Asians vs. Mexicans, they were all coming at each other all at once. And now that's all changed. People talk to other people and you know everybody's human -- inside, everybody's just people even though we're a different color.

Tom: My brother came to this school in 1990 in the eighth grade and he told me it was really bad. He said he saw kids hanging out in different places and wouldn't play with each other. Certain people would be playing football, or basketball or soccer and wouldn't play together at all. Since then it's changed a lot. Now kids are much more likely to play with each other.

Jill: I remember going to the girl's bathroom and written all over it would be some racial pride thing -- like Asian Pride, or Black Pride, some person's pride written all over it. All written in hatred of the other side. They just couldn't come together like they are now. It's helped a lot having the Diversity Ambassadors. This school did not have a very good reputation back when I was in second or third grade, but it's changed a lot, thanks to some of our teachers who have helped start things like the DAs.

Why did the Diversity Ambassador progam make such a difference?

Peter: I guess it's the fact that the kids do not really respond that well to the adults when they talk to them about a dispute. They respond better to the kids because they have a chance to open up and talk. We watched a video today during our DA meeting at lunch. It was about peer mediation, and they showed how the students went to a room and sat down and talked with no interruptions. They were talking about this girl who was spreading rumors, and they were able to resolve it just by talking to each other. That's what we're trying to do here.

You helped organize Marshall's "diversity assembly." What's that like?

Tom: It was really good. We showed different ethnic groups, from Cambodia, from Mexico, like that. They dressed up in the clothes of their country and they did things to show how their culture was unique, how they had different events, and how your culture might change if you were from different parts of the same country. We had dances and songs, things like that, too.

Jill: Our deaf and hard-of-hearing students performed, too. I think our students were a little bit surprised that they were in it, but they welcomed them. The students saw that diversity wasn't just about race.

Peter: During the diversity assembly, when the deaf kids went up and did their songs and stuff, at first they were shy, but once they were done with the dancing and the songs, everybody started clapping and that made them feel more welcome and included and everything.

What other activities are you planning to do?

Jesus: This year we're going to sponsor a dance for the whole school. We're not sure what to call it but we were thinking about the "unity dance." Uniting everybody, not just some groups and not others.

Ms. Curtis: I think we're getting a lot of payoff from the hard work we did last year. This year's DAs haven't had to mediate very much because we haven't had many conflicts. One thing we'll be doing is going into classrooms throughout our school to do diversity workshops. And we'd also like to visit other schools and talk with students or staff about these issues.

You'll be in high school next year. What will you do with the knowledge you've gained about diversity and getting along?

Jill: I will be able to accept all the people from different cultures at the school, and not just see them and go, "Oh, there's so-and-so, and I'm not going to like them because they're this color." We'll be able to go up and say "hi".

Jesus: I think we will take our pride from Marshall as we go to other schools. We can show that we don't have negative feelings towards other racial groups. I guess arguments will come up, but we'll have the skills to help solve the problems.

Peter: It would be nice if we could carry these ideas to high school with us, because there's a lot of racism in high school. A lot of kids hang out with their own ethnic groups in certain areas of the high school, and that's just not right. They should be together. I mean, inside we're all humans, we all have the same feelings. The only difference is our skin, that's it.

What happens when people don't want to listen to your advice?

Jesus: This year, in the 8th grade, Marshall has a soccer program going on at lunch. My team is not all Mexicans. We have an African American kid playing with us, and also we
have a (white) kid playing with us. I know the Mexican kids are not the only ones who know how to play soccer, but some of the Mexican players on my team don't like it.

Just last week, we got finished with a game and we had a problem. An African American kid messed up and we lost. And one of the Mexican kids said, "I'm going to kick him out," and I said, "No, you're not, because I'm the captain and I say what we're going to do. If he goes, then the whole team is dissolved." Because it's not fair to single him out; we're a team.

We have to unite. We have to show other schools and our families and everybody else.
As kids, we're the only ones that can make the world change. It's up to us to end the racism
and the violence in the schools.

Read the story about Marshall teacher Francine Curtis,
who helped start the Diversity Ambassadors.