Unlearning-racism retreat hard to beat, students say
One student came to Marysville five years ago from Sacramento. The other lived in South Africa until she was 10.
Both attend the Marysville Charter Academy for the Arts and traveled to Berkeley this month for an Unlearning Racism Retreat — and said the event was so valuable others should attend.
Megan Jackson, 17, president of the Multicultural Student Union at the Marysville school, and Natalie Landua, 16, vice-president, each paid $100 for the program.
"I needed this workshop," said Landau, who referred to the privileged life she had in South Africa because of her race and remarked, "That's a guilt I live with."
Jackson, who moved here from Sacramento, said racism has not ended.
"People think because they don't experience it, it's gone," she said.
Jackson said that as that an African American she experiences a lot of racism in Marysville and remarked that she's seen so many swastikas in this area she can speak German.
Members of the Multicultural Student Union meeting Thursday at the school heard the two students' report on the retreat. Members were provided with copies of "21 Ways to Stop a Conversation about Diversity" from the program in Berkeley. The ways, which are listed in a try to avoid such conversation stoppers, include "Things are a lot better than they used to be — don't you agree" and "I love everyone."
Arely Mendoza, 16, praised the retreat after hearing the report by the two students.
"It opens up a lot of people's minds and eyes," Mendoza said.
Jackson, interviewed with Landau after the two spoke to the student group, said she has seen more than a dozen people with swastika tattoos in the five years she's lived in Yuba County.
Jackson said life in Sacramento meant living with many different races — it was hard to hate one another, she said — and that Yuba County is far less diverse.
The two students said they read online comments in the Appeal-Democrat story about their Berkeley trip before beginning the retreat. Some statements questioned the event and one referred to it as "anti-constitution socialist programming — Marx would be very proud."
Landau said some of the comments reflect a mindset of, "I know what I know and I'm not going to change my belief."
StirFry Seminars & Consulting, which put on the Berkeley program, has said the unlearning racism retreat the two students attended is one of its most popular.
"StirFry was meant to represent that, as in Chinese stir fry cooking, no one flavor dominates, but rather all work together to create one that is unique," the website states.
CONTACT Ryan McCarthy at 749-4707 or rmccarthy@appealdemocrat.com.
