The Not In Our Town crew had the pleasure of interviewing young performing artist Julian Hornik a few years ago during Palo Alto Unified School District's Not In Our School week. He told us about the bullying and cyberbullying that he experienced after classmates discovered YouTube videos of Julian performing his original songs. Now 15, Julian sends a message to other teens: "It Gets Better." Julian states:
I wrote this song in hopes that gay teens who are thinking of harming themselves might think twice. There will come a time when the idea of tormenting someone because he or she is gay will seem as absurd as segregation does today. In the mean time, the world is getting younger and smarter and more accepting. And it will get better.
Blog
January 27, 2011 - 3:24pm
It's Day 4 of No Name-Calling Week. Today we are sharing one of our most popular Not In Our School videos, "Students Teach Students to Stand Up to Bullying," filmed at Shaw High School in East Cleveland, Ohio.
Students in Lori Urogody-Eiler's Facing History and Ourselves class mentor younger students in how to be an upstander, not a bystander, when faced with bullying and intolerant acts. This version was included in our MLK-inspired collection, Embracing the Dream: Lessons from the Not In Our Town Movement, and is preceded by a short clip featuring Not In Our Town Billings chair Eran Thompson.
January 27, 2011 - 2:35pm
Jonathan Bernstein, Not In Our Town executive director, has been tapped for California Attorney General Kamala Harris’ Civil Rights Enforcement Transition Team. The transition team is one of 10 “Smart on Crime Work Groups” and is chaired by Bill Lann Lee, who served as the Assistant Attorney General for Civil Rights in the U.S. Department of Justice under President Clinton.
January 26, 2011 - 4:53pm
On this third day of No Name-Calling Week, we showcase two videos of middle school students who use skits to stand up against bullying and promote acceptance in their schools. The first is a Not In Our Town video from Rockford, Illinois where student council members organized a Not In Our School campaign and a school wide assembly with student-produced skits challenging stereotypes and other intolerant behavior.
January 25, 2011 - 5:27pm
Yesterday, when we posted about the first day of No Name-Calling Week on the NIOT Facebook page, one of our Facebook fans said bullying in schools seems to be rising, while another noted the important role adults play in being models of acceptance.
As schools and organizations discuss name-calling this week, here are two interesting perspectives. The first is the preview for Let's Get Real, a film from Groundspark, that features students speaking in their own voices about their name-calling experiences. The second, below the video, comes from our archives, in which a father grapples with the name-calling of his 9-year-old son.