PenPals Promote Tolerance

Last week, Starbucks announced it will be closing 8,000 US stores for anti-bias training after an incident where two black men were arrested while waiting for a business meeting in the popular cafe. It’s hard to unpack racial bias in one day, but it’s important to understand how racism was established and why it continues to impact communities around the world.  

These are the kinds of conversations students have been having with PenPals around the world. We’re proud to celebrate Daytona, Kam, Brody, Jordan, Abby, Juan, Tristin, Olyvia, Royce, Carter, and Skyler from Michigan, USA who recently participated in Race in America and learned how to promote tolerance by examining the history of racism in America and activists who have fought against it.

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In this project, PenPals explore the ways that identity helped establish a system of slavery in America and how racism continued to create inequality through the era of Jim Crow laws. PenPals then learn about activists that have promoted racial equality during the civil rights movement and into modern day as they work with their PenPals on their own action project to promote tolerance.

View Race in America Syllabus

As PenPals explored the history of slavery, Daytona analyzed the way identity played a role in developing a system of slavery.

“Identity played a role in creating a system of slavery in the US, because of the discrimination and the need for more labor, due to more cotton fields, due to the article. According to the article, it was easier to have black slaves, because they would stand out in the white community. From what the videos said, many blacks that didn't know of slavery, thought they were cannibals. They committed suicide because of them being afraid of being 'eaten'. Where I live, there is no slavery, but I do hear of human trafficking in other places. Do you still have slavery where you live, or not? What kind of slavery have you heard of if you have?”
​- Daytona from Michigan

Abby, Tristin, and Skyler learned about change agents and researched other individuals who have been agents of change, from celebrities to political activists to their own teachers.

“A change agent is a person from inside or outside an organization who helps change something for the good. A few qualities include responsibility to carry on a task, listening skills and diversified knowledge. I feel like a very good example of a change agent is Ellen DeGeneres. She has an afternoon talk show, Ellen, which has the phrase "be kind to one another." All the time, she has guests on her show who have done something huge and have impacted their community, sometimes the whole country! She uses their examples to spark an interest and awareness in her viewers. For her birthday, even, one of the gifts given to her was a foundation built in her name, the Dian Fossey Gorilla Fund. All around the country, and possibly the world now, she is known for her kindness and passion to many organizations and causes.”
​- Abby from Michigan

“One change agent today is, Melanie Campbell. A change agent is someone who fights to better life for others who may be discriminated against. Melanie has been active in civil rights, women's rights, and social justice movement for more then 20 years. Melanie fights for civil rights and is making a impact. For Melanie this has been almost her whole life's work. Melanie also is known as one of the hardest working people who fight for civil rights. Melanie's motivation is female rights mostly for black women's rights. Some actions that Melanie takes is serving in leadership capacities. These include, CEO of national civil rights non-profit (NCBCP), political appointee in her Mayor’s office (Director, Atlanta Mayor’s Office of Youth Services)and much more. She also appears on television and on the radio to support her causes. Melanie has appeared on CNN, Washington Journal, National Public Radio and many many more. In the end Melaine is one of the many change agents in today's world.”
- Tristin from Michigan

“The change agents that I am highlighting are two of my teachers. My Spanish teacher Mr. Nodarse and my English teacher Ms. Blank. They lead the OEHS Change program. Both of them try to change our school so that the students see that their is more than [our school]. The last time that we met we talked about how no student eats alone. On this topic we also discussed the Parkland shooting and how the student there was socially isolated. We talked about how the media influences people and how if you are socially isolated or bullied that it influences people in different ways. These teachers try to make a difference in our school because they want people to see that there is more than [our school] and that there are different races and religions than what is here. They both work hard on making sure that our eyes are open to the world and that we see things that normally would not cross our minds. Both teachers are good teachers and they both try to implant change in our school. In conclusion, Mr. Nodarse and Ms. Blank are both change agents that are trying to change my school bit by bit for the better.”
- Skyler from Michigan

To better understand how the media influences racial bias, some PenPals asked community members where they get their news, and then analyzed the ways those news outlets represent race.

“The majority of people I have interviewed get their news online or from television. To me, it seems as most major news corporations represent black people more fairly from the Internet than on television. It seems that Fox News and other right-wing organizations distort the truth to push their discriminatory agendas. CNN and other leftist organizations typically represent minorities more fairly, but their guest don't. I also hear about "black-on-black violence," in the words of my president "they're killing each other." Real quote. Anyway, I never hear of white-on-white violence, despite it being roughly the same as the black-on-black violence rate and whites are 12% more likely to assault a black stranger than a black stranger assaulting a white stranger. Also, unlike blacks and latinos, white violent crimes attack white people 57% more often than proportional to the population. All information was obtained from the Los Angeles Times.”
​- Brody from Michigan

“For my interviews, two people I talked to got their news from Fox News on TV. Two others used social media to get their news. The last person I interviewed said they got their information from the newspaper. I researched some of the news sources they claimed to listen in on and learned that in many news sources, black people are often not represented the same as white people. For example, the news website https://www.cbsnews.com/news/texas-mom-accused-of-leaving-kids-at-food-court-during-job-interview/ made an article discussing how one black woman who interviewed for a job with her children 30 feet away at a food court was criticized for "abandoning her children," while two white parents who exposed their child to drugs were forgiven for their 'little mistake.' I think this shows that we need to be more careful when it comes to getting our news from unknown sources. We need to check for bias and make sure that we are keeping our minds open because information can be misrepresented and adjusted in order to demonize one person whilst victimizing another. In conclusion, I learned that there is a large amount of racial bias in the media and that we need to watchful for it.”
- Jordan from Michigan

Other PenPals came up with an action plan to promote tolerance in their own communities.

“I worked together with my family to make people aware that equality and discrimination are still a problem. In the text, it states, "Research shows that service-learning can help people increase their awareness of diversity. Service-learning projects can also help people build empathy towards others." By working together and showing other people that we need to make a difference as simple as a kind gesture to others can change the way others treat others. You do not have to do a big project or a community thing although that helps you don't have to do a lot by being aware of what you are saying and what you are doing. You can do something as little as making a friend.”
- Kam from Michigan

“Throughout the past few weeks I have learned a lot about discrimination in our past. This project has helped me learn and understand more on the different kinds of racism. Even though racism still exists in our world today, I think having background knowledge can help educate people so they won't be as likely to be racist. Being able to understand the fragile topic may help change and open peoples minds. If we make ourselves more self aware on the topic we might be able to put racism behind us and to not judge one another. Racism is not going to stop without a fight so let's put a stop it. It hurts people and makes them feel like nothing. They can't help the color of their skin so why do we have to make a big deal out of it.”
​- Juan from Michigan

“Throughout this project I have learned that racism is still a huge issue around the world. There have been many attempts to end this issue, most of which have had an impact in some way, however the prejudice against people of color is still there, though it is not as prominent as it once was. Although my community is not very diverse, racial prejudice is still an issue. People often see the unequal representation in the media and use that to dictate how they treat people of color. I think that if we are able to eliminate the double standards used throughout the media and parts of the world, we will be one step closer to ending racism. It seems to take a lot of time to make an impact, even on a small area, but I believe that if everyone steps in and does their part, these racist issues might just lessen, even if only slightly. All in all, I am very thankful for this interesting Penpal experience, and I am very glad that I was able to look deeper into the issues of the past and present, and how my community might be able to help fix these problems.”
- Olyvia from Michigan

“Throughout this project we have learned much about our ethnically different communities as well as each other. Although we have had different experiences with racism and the effect it has on the community we can all come to the conclusion that it is a very destructive force. Racism is still a problem to this day and it should be a priority to understand it, find why it still exists, and quench it. There will always be people with different characteristics than ourselves but we need to understand that these differences don't need to force us apart. If we could tolerate our differences and understand the different perspectives that ethnically different people provide, then we will be on our way to achieving true peace between races. Our species is meant to collaborate and stick together, and when we do that we can achieve miraculous feats. Feats that we simply can't accomplish when we are so absorbed in our personal opinions and don't allow another perspective to intervene and propose an idea that could be better. If you truly want to reach greatness in anything you need people to look at it from a perspective that isn't your own. From there they can point out your flaws so you can make it better.”
- Royce from Michigan

“I have learned a lot during this session while talking to my Pen Pals. This includes discrimination, slavery, civil rights, race, and activism. This has been a huge learning experience for me and hopefully for my Pen Pals as well, and I would like to pursue the goal I have made to keep these negative and unfortunate subjects at bay. What upsets me most is that they will never be abolished because there is always someone out there who will never stop, but what we can do as a nation is try and do not stop; with every put down and discriminating comment, don't let it bring you down, use that anger and that pain as power and motivation to not be what they say you are. Push through that wall stopping you from doing what's right. I have learned that when you think that your life is terrible, there is always a positive side to everything and you need to look at the glass half full, not half empty. I've helped my neighbor who lives down the road by shoveling snow off his walkways and deck, and he recently passed away. We since then have brought things to his wife and have talked to her. I am going to help her whenever she needs it.”
- Carter from Michigan

PenPals described some of the most impactful parts of the project, like sharing ideas with others, making new friends, and discussing different ideas in a respectful way.

“An avid debater and one who demonstrates a particular zeal in learning about other cultures and their nuances, my favorite elements of the PenPal exchange were learning of cultural progression, in both America and beyond. The PenPal exchange opened a dialogue for civil conversation with my North Carolinian pen-pal whose ideology deviated greatly from my own, and it felt marvelous to speak to someone with an opposing viewpoint at a time of such terrible, debilitating, seemingly ever-increasing polarization. I was also able to speak with a pen-pal from Sweden,  who resided in the outskirts of Stockholm. It was quite refreshing to find that politics aren’t as ludicrisly right-winged everywhere. As shame-filled as it makes me, I had entered the encounter anticipating judgment, expecting to face the gun-wielding, under-educated, ignorant American stereotype. Instead, I found that most people are intelligent enough to look past the stereotypes, the over-simplified generalizations of other cultures, countries and regions. In my cynicism, I was blinded, but learnt that I needed to give people a chance before leaping to the defense, not to assume all people are bad. I feared so much the generalizations and oversimplifications of entire cultures that, in my attempt to resolve this mentality, I generalized the world, Democrats versus Republicans, me versus you, without regard for shades of meaning, a black and white world lacking gray-areas, subtleties and nuance, unwilling to listen. I closed myself off, always feeling like I needed to defend myself, without realizing that I didn’t always need defending. I’m grateful to have had this eye-opening experience that exposed me to other cultures, which reinforced what I already should’ve known, retaught me not to shut out other people’s opinions as soon as they proved different from my own and to stop being so cynical, especially without cause.”
​- Brody from Michigan

“I don’t really have a favorite part of the Pen Pal exchange. I loved all of it. I loved “talking” to different people from either around the world or around the United States. I liked reading what they had to say and commenting on their work. One of my pen pals was also keeping tabs on me, like I was on her. I thought that, that was extremely cool because she was from S. Carolina and I am from Michigan. I also liked the different topics that were presented. I thought that they made me think hard but were also easy enough to get done in a quickly manner. Some of the topics interested me and I wanted to continue learning about them on my own time, some of them not so much. I liked how I could have my own opinion on something and other people take it into consideration, like I did for them. Reading other people’s work was fun because I got to be inside their head and try to figure out what they were thinking. I could agree with them, redirect them, comment, etc. and they would respond and we would just talk it out. Talking with different people around my age about topics that are hard to talk about in society was also one of my favorite parts of Pen Pals. This is because we all could speak freely and back it all up with evidence. All in all, I think I really liked communicating with different people and reading about different topics that I normally don’t talk about.”
- Skyler from Michigan

“My favorite part about the Pen Pal exchange was learning more about my country's history along with history from around our world. This also gave me many opportunities to learn more about racism and discrimination in our world today and back then. Thanks to Pen Pals I now have more knowledge about how people all around the world are treated and, the many people who are fighting for equality among all. Overall, this was my favorite part about the Pen Pal exchange.”
- Tristin from Michigan

“During my PenPal experience My eyes were opened to topics that I haven't put much thought into before, as well as communicating with people outside of my community about these rather sensitive subjects. I was given the chance to see these problems of racial discrimination and ostracism from a different perspective than my own. With every answer that was provided by my new friends that perspective grew wider, and wider, and by the end I came away with a bigger picture. That racial equality is unfortunately still a problem and the lack of tolerance of the preferences of others. However things are getting better. There are people that are trying to change this world for the better. People who see these problems and make change instead of waiting for it, but we still need more of these people. To find these people I believe all we need is to be educated in these topics, and they too will find the better perspective.”
- Royce from Michigan

Not only did these PenPals get to have a civil discussion with their peers about a controversial topic that can be difficult to discuss, they also learned that little acts of kindness can go a long way to promote tolerance. By staying informed and aware of racial bias, we can all play a part in making the world a better place for people of all races.

Want to inspire your students to become change agents? Sign up for Race in America, starting again Monday, May 7.

Enroll in Race in America