What the SWAT?
By Lydia Pelot-HobbsHey everyone!
My name is Lydia Pelot-Hobbs and I am the current Working Action Manager (WAM) of Young Religious Unitarian Universalism (YRUU)! My job is to organize around the Working Action Issue (currently Education Reform and Multiculturalism) and coordinate the Super Working Action Team (SWAT): the folks on a grassroots level who are organizing around this issue in their congregations, communities, schools, districts/regions, or anywhere else). A resolution was passed this year at Youth Council to make Education Reform and Multiculturalism the long-term Working Action Issue so YRUU can help make significant change. If you are wondering how to get involved, it's simple: You can be on SWAT (it is a self-selected job.) If you decide this is something you want to put your time into, you can request a Super Working Action Team Packet of Activist Tools—SWAT PoAT—from the Youth Office, come to the YRUU Social Justice Conference (YSJC), participate in the Day of Action, support the Working Action Issue at General Assembly, or do anything else you can think of!
As an example, I'll tell you how I recently found a situation where I could become involved in stopping the perpetuation of racism. At my former high school, on the first day of school seniors dress up in a theme. This year the senior class officers chose the theme of "Wild Wild West." At first this seemed fine, but as I read the rest of the letter I noticed dressing up as "Cowboys or Indians" was encouraged. While in our society we have realized blackface is offensive, we have yet to catch on to the inherent racism in pretending to be Native Americans/Indigenous peoples. Even though many Native/Indigenous organizations have made statements about how this is hurtful and oppressive, many people do not seem to care. By doing such things, we are showing disrespect for a people's ethnicity and culture. I decided to write a letter detailing why asking students to dress as Native Americans is inherently racist and problematic and how seniors are leaders that need to set an anti-racist and anti- oppressive model for younger students to follow. I also asked in my letter that people consider what this means for our educational system when senior high school students—a year from graduating—have not learned that such behavior is inappropriate and oppressive. I sent the letter to the senior class officers, the high school newspaper, the community paper, the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, and the administration of my high school. Even if that letter is never responded to or printed, at least some people will read it and hopefully learn from it, and that is a first step to creating an anti-racist school environment.
Change is not that difficult. Look for the little things you can do to start the ripples of significant change in our educational system. You drive this movement!
Lydia Pelot-Hobbs is a bridger from St. Louis, MO. She currently attends Oberlin College in Ohio.
For more information contact youth @ uua.org.
Last updated on Friday, April 18, 2008.
