On November 3rd and 4th, S.O.S. Crown Heights partnered with Legal Aid to host a workshop teaching the youth about their basic rights. Legal Aid representatives educated the nearly fifteen youth in attendance on discrimination, stereotyping and bias. Stories were shared about experiences with stereotyping and confusion involving community members and the police. The youth also discussed problems that effect populations of color in the community such as money, housing, food and nutritional value, as well as family.
Participant Robert David stated,
“The workshop opened my eyes to see how much stereotyping is going on rather than actually knowing someone. Just because there’s color in my skin doesn’t mean I’m the person that you’re thinking about. Some people look at me as a danger and others think of me as a normal person. Some don’t even think of me at all. But I know who I am and I’m trying to change the way people look at other people to stop the stereotype chain.”
The youth then created t-shirts representing non-violence messages inspired by what they had learned.