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Sunday, April 25, 1999 -- modified 4/25/99
Copyright © Las Vegas Review-Journal
DEFYING DIFFERENCES
A diverse group of valley students descends on Lee Canyon to explore social prejudice and preference.
By Debra D. Bass
Review-Journal
"If you were ever called names because of your race, class, ethnicity, gender, sexual orientation, handicap or disability, take one step back."
More than half of nearly 100 students and counselors who stood shoulder-to-shoulder in the campgrounds of Lee Canyon shuffled back to acknowledge the question.
"If your family members are professionals (doctors, lawyers, etc.), take one step forward."
"If you don't feel safe while walking in your neighborhood, take one step back."
The questions continued, 40 in all, until students and counselors were spread along a basketball court, some as many as 30 steps apart. The exercise is called the "privilege walk" and the objective is to visualize how preference and prejudice can affect opportunity. In front of the group hung an American flag to represent the American dream.
"Now take a look at where you are," camp co-director Tyrone Thompson said. "Look at who's in front of you. Look at who's beside you. Look at who's behind you."
Silently, students ages 15 to 18 surveyed their position, though few, if any, made eye contact. A few students stood directly under the flag, while others were at the opposite extreme of the half court. The majority were scattered in between.
Welcome to Camp Anytown.
For three days, 62 Las Vegas Valley high school students -- 11 of whom were in training to lead future camps -- convened at Camp Lee Canyon to explore social prejudice and preference.
"My dad's a snob. He makes fun of Asians and black people, but my mom taught me to love everybody," said a white 17-year-old male. "Even so, it really woke me up just to be here. I come from a predominantly white, rich neighborhood. I never really felt comfortable being around black people and, you know, people from the ghetto, and now I'm sleeping in the same room."
Students arrived at the camp on a Friday earlier this month from 21 different schools, representing 11 religious affiliations, five racial groups, at least seven nationalities and an array of socioeconomic backgrounds. Students were referred by church organizations, school counselors, parole officers and local business groups.
Some were dropped off to catch their rides to camp in sport utility vehicles by doting parents; others arrived in sedans driven by social workers.
During the first day, everyone was split into multiracial groups of five or six, assigned a counselor and taught the camp rules: proper execution of the Anytown hug, camp boundaries, no drugs, alcohol or smoking, and the rainbow rule.
The rainbow rule encourages students to meet people they might not normally associate with. It means no two people of the same race are supposed to sit together during meals and activities. Counselors and advisers also are discouraged from taking a seat beside or across from each other at such events. The philosophy is that familiarity breeds acceptance, according to camp directors.
Rainbow rule offenders suffer a speedy and non-negotiable punishment -- an inspired public performance of the "I'm a little teapot" ditty.
Co-director of Camp Anytown Shannon West, who attended her first camp as a high school student in the '80s, explained that diversity within a population doesn't always mean people of different races and backgrounds are more apt to associate with one another. In reality, diversity can force people to revert more vehemently to their own cultural group for solidarity, she said.
That phenomenon is particularly distressing given future projections of the U.S. Census Bureau. Within the next 50 years there will be no clear majority, according to statistics. Demographers disagree on the exact makeup, but whites in 2050 will constitute between 49 and 53 percent of the population, a significant drop from the 72.5 percent in 1990.
The local Camp Anytown is a project of the National Conference for Community and Justice (formerly the National Conference of Christians and Jews). It has been dedicated to youth leadership programs for five years. Funded largely by a two-year $43,000 grant from the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms that runs out this year, Camp Anytown will be host to one more event in August, but has yet to secure new revenue.
Money is scarce because the program doesn't fit into the traditional youth grant categories of teen-age pregnancy and gang prevention, according to organizers.
"We call it youth leadership because the leaders of tomorrow are going to have to know how to deal with people of different races, religions, genders. ... In short, people who don't look like they do," said Susan Boswell, executive director of the Las Vegas National Conference group.
As of this year, the Clark County School District is, statistically, almost majority-free. About 53.6 percent of the student body is white, 25.4 percent Hispanic, 14 percent black, 6.1 percent Asian and 0.9 percent American Indian, with a total enrollment of about 200,000.
But students at the camp don't learn about statistics and projections. Instead, they are given latitude to explore their own emotions and feelings -- the good and the bad. The trick of getting them to open up lies in creating an atmosphere where students feel free to be honest.
Camp volunteers greeted students the first day of camp by singing the undeniably absurd "Tooty-tot" song, which involves performing a dance that mimics the posture of a chicken.
"Are they crazy?" students asked out loud as the bus pulled into the campgrounds.
"We don't want to give them time to be cool and decide that they don't want to participate," West told advisers and counselors the night before.
Later she explained that "Tooty-tot" establishes a level playing field, "Anyone who thinks they are cool while doing Tooty-tot just isn't taking a realistic look at themselves."
Timid, reluctant, confused and bemused, students slowly filed off the buses amid hugs, cheers and high-fives. Two days later, many would be just as reluctant to leave amid the same fanfare.
"The first day I saw you guys, I thought you were all on crack -- for real -- all happy and singing silly songs and stuff. I thought, `Naw, this ain't for me,' " one 17-year-old student told counselors and newfound friends the last day of camp. "Then the next day I caught myself singing, too, and I was like, `What? No way.' "
West said that in three days, they didn't get everyone to sing along, but everyone came closer to getting along.
"We are all going to have to learn to live together," she said. "No stereotypes are good stereotypes.
"It's like when students say that Asian-American teen-agers are smart," West said. "It sounds like a good thing, but the pressure makes Asian youth more likely to commit suicide than any other (ethnic group)."
During a Saturday exercise, students took turns compiling lists of stereotypes for each race. Each list dedicated to the five racial groups took about 10 minutes to get through. Students took umbrage at statements both overtly offensive and seeming innocuous like "live in big houses," "eat rice" and "outie belly buttons."
More than one student commented that there is nothing wrong with people being different and said the stereotypes create pigeonholes that no race should be forced into fitting.
"Some of the things are true ... but some of them are just hurtful. I'm proud of who I am, but I consider it an insult when people don't realize that there is a lot of diversity (within every race)," one student explained.
"Stereotypes are stupid," another said succinctly.
West said it is not just important that students say it, but that they feel what it's like to be defined by stereotypes. In polite society, prejudice, racism and bigotry are such explosive topics that most refuse to acknowledge the concepts exist in their lives, she said.
"The exercises we do (at camp) force you to really look at what's important to you. It's important to be a little uncomfortable and ask yourself `Why am I uncomfortable?' It's like when you're walking in a dark place and you have a heightened awareness," West said of workshops that allow students to visualize the effects of racism and privilege. "If you look at the pivotal moments of your life, it's only through emotions that you really take a look at clarifying your beliefs."
She said it's important for students to realize what they have done to perpetuate stereotypes -- whether it was tacit or overt -- and decide whether they feel a change is merited.
"This whole thing isn't going to change my life, but it will make me look at things differently," one student said. "I have said some things before, but they won't come out of my mouth again."
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Camp Anytown gives teen-agers a chance to meet peers of races and backgrounds they normally don't associate with.
Photo by Christine H. Wetzel/Review-Journal
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