The Community Spotlight features individuals and
projects that work for equity and inclusion.
Honor the Past, Challenge the Present, Change the Future
On Martin Luther King Day 2013, 22 middle and high school students from the Greater Asheville community united together for a workshop on identifying stereotypes and creating equitable societies. This is not the first time young civic leaders in our community have engaged in anti-bias work. In the 1960s, the National Conference for Community and Justice, formerly the National Conference of Christians and Jews, trained students from Asheville High and Middle School in ASCORE (Asheville Student Commission on Racial Equality) to desegregate Asheville during the Civil Rights movement. It was poignant for this program to have come full circle because January 21st was the return of NCCJ to our community.
After the students participated in the Martin Luther King March in downtown Asheville with hundreds of community members, the students listened to Marvin Chambers. Marvin was an original member of ASCORE and gave the students a perspective of what it was like for him to conquer stereotypes and the structures of society when he was just the age that the students are now. It was inspirational to hear his perspective and the students took the wisdom he offered into their experience of the program by NCCJ.
The six-hour training challenged students on their personal biases and assumptions, the effect that hate and intolerance can create in the context of prejudice and discrimination, and strategies that they can take to conquering biases in their school and home communities. At the conclusion of the program, students pledged what difference they planned to make.
While the lessons learned in the 1960s have a direct correlation with creating equitable societies today, the students leaders and the leaders they empower plan to carry them into tomorrow and create societies of justice for all.