In honor of Cesar Chavez Day, the Si, Se Puede! Learning Center and Community Media Access Partnership hosted an event Thursday that focused on the issue of bullying in the community.
Elise Hasty, the Si, Se Puede! coordinator, said the students chose the topic of bullying as an important issue in the community.
“For this event we have been planning, working toward it for two to three months,” Hasty said at the opening of the event that lasted from 3 p.m. to 6 p.m. “It’s really personal. The students, volunteers working here, are the ones who chose the theme. They wrote the script. It makes it really special.”
The kids dubbed the event “Stand Up and Speak Up” as a way to encourage others to stand up against bullies and speak out when they see bullying behavior.
The three-hour event included a mix of video debuts and guest speakers about the topic of bullying.
“Cesar Chavez used nonviolent actions, and you guys are doing the same thing by being anti-bullying and anti-teasing,” Hasty said. “You guys are raising awareness.”
Spencer Wilkinson of CMAP introduced the first video. The video was largely filmed at the Day of Service sponsored by CMAP and Si, Se Puede in January in celebration of Martin Luther King Day. At the event, they asked the guests to share their stories of courage. He said the Hollister Youth Media Council – students who volunteer with CMAP – helped to create the video.
After the video, Wilkinson introduced the first guest speaker, Al De Vos. De Vos is the gang prevention coordinator for the county and he has helped to implement anti-bullying programs at local schools.
De Vos shared a PowerPoint presentation and a video with the students.
“What does it take to have courage?” he said. “It’s not being amazing, but doing what you feel is right. You can do everyday things that make you a hero.”
De Vos said one of the important facets for the community to have is a common language to talk about bullying so everyone understands what is acceptable and what is not. He said bullying is when someone repeatedly and purposely says or does mean or hurtful things to another person who has a hard time defending himself or herself.
“It doesn’t just happen once,” he said, “though saying mean things once can be hurtful, too. It has to be intentional, not just accidentally bumping into someone.”
He said the other thing is that there has to be an imbalance of power. He asked the kids what might make relationships unequal – while they raised their hands and gave such answers as a person who has a lot of confidence, a person who is stronger or a person who wins at the game all the time.
For each student he called on, De Vos handed out a pencil with “I got caught doing something good” printed on the side of it.
De Vos said most kids tell a friend when they are being bullied, instead of their parents or an adult. He said by middle school or high school, most kids don’t tell anyone. According to a survey of San Benito County students, the most common types of bullying in the community are calling people names and comments related to race or ethnicity. The third is spreading rumors.
De Vos talked about other types of bullying behaviors, such as exclude other students from games.
“When someone leaves you out of an activity, then you feel bad,” he said.
He said bullying can also be making someone do something they don’t want to do; damaging their property; physical harm such as hitting or kicking.”
Near the end of his presentation he described a circle of bullying that explains the roles that many people can play when they see bullying. There is the person who is exhibiting the bullying behavior and the target of the bullying, but there are also others who get drawn into the behavior either by becoming an active participant, observing it or trying to stop it. He asked for volunteers to come up to play the different roles in the bullying circle. One student was the bully, while others joined in with the bully, some avoided it and one person stood up for the victim. Each student read a paragraph about his or her role and then after had to talk about how he or she felt about playing a bullying or not standing up for someone who was bullied.
“We surveyed seven schools, and most kids were on the light side – a possible defender. They don’t know how to get it to stop but they want to,” De Vos said.
