moving beyond tolerance

Leadership, March, 2001 by Bill Cirone

The Beyond Tolerance Educational Center in Santa Barbara has taught thousands of students about the causes, instruments and dangers of hate and discrimination.

With bullets flying this past year in child care centers, banks, hospitals and schools, it is tempting to seek a silver version to make all our violence problems disappear.

In our weaker moments we hope that such a silver bullet exists. In our stronger moments we know, very clearly, that it does not.

The root causes of violence form a contradiction. They are as complex, textured and pervasive as they are focused and individualized. No single thrust will erase what has taken generations to perfect.

But there is certainly one strong contributing factor underlying the violence among our youth: a deeply held intolerance of those who are different from whatever it is we are. We are no longer a predominantly civil society. Young people are susceptible to the models they see for anger, hatred and violent responses. They see adults all speaking their minds these days, without hesitation, and the resulting comments are often intolerant of differences -- differences in people, beliefs, customs and styles.

But there is hope. If we can model tolerance for our young people, if we can show them strategies for dealing with those who are different or those they do not like, we will have taken a big step in the right direction.

In Santa Barbara County we have begun such an undertaking by creating the Beyond Tolerance Educational Center, a non-profit, self-sustaining organization operating under the umbrella of the Santa Barbara County Education Office. The center is dedicated to combating and preventing hate and intolerance through education.

One small, simple part of the program involves taking all eighth-graders to the Simon Weisenthal Museum of Tolerance in Los Angeles.

After visiting the museum this year, 16-year-old El Puente student Angelica Valencia is trying to come to terms with the painful images she witnessed. The vivid images of the Holocaust serve as a reminder of the extreme to which hatred can be carried. Angelica is just one of the 15,000 students whose lives have been affected by Beyond Tolerance in the year since its inception.

For co-director Adele Rosen, Beyond Tolerance is a powerful tool for fighting hatred. Rosen was a natural choice to organize Beyond Tolerance because she was one of the driving forces that helped bring the "Anne Frank in the World" exhibit to Santa Barbara three years ago. She raised the money, which resulted in 10,000 students getting to view the exhibit. "The community responded with great support," said Rosen. "It was a real success story."

In order to capture that energy and spirit the Santa Barbara County Education Office decided to develop a clearinghouse -- a way to teach school children about the causes, instruments and dangers of hate and discrimination. After the seeds were planted, Rosen and co-director Carol Spears "birthed" the idea, as Rosen likes to put it.

She points out that Beyond Tolerance at its core is really about compassion for all people. The different programs that make up Beyond Tolerance are creating a new success story in this area.

One of the programs, "Living Voices," is a multi-media experience where an actor interacts with video footage from different historical eras like the Civil Rights movement or the Holocaust. Some 10,000 students were able to see the Living Voices program "The Right to Dream," and "Through the Eyes of a Friend." Last April, the Living Voices program "Within the Silence" focused on the Japanese American internment camps.

"It's essential that young people learn what was, and what not to accept," said Rosen. "Different hate-related events are happening all over the world and people need to speak up."

Another program used by the center is "Facing History and Ourselves," a national organization that has trained 60 Santa Barbara County English and history teachers at a week-long institute. The teachers learn methods of inquiry, analysis and interpretation in terms of values and democracy.

While Rosen focuses on raising money and public relations, co-director Spears goes into elementary schools, coordinating and presenting two other Beyond Tolerance programs: "Multi-Cultural Celebrations" and "The Immigrants."

"Multi-Cultural Celebrations" demonstrates to students that people all over the world celebrate the same things for the same reasons, just in different ways with different names.

Spears goes into the classroom with five different celebration bags for Kwanzaa, the Chinese New Year, Japanese Children's Day, Passover and Cinco de Mayo. "The kids love it," said Spears. "They learn that food, music, costumes, decorations play a role no matter what the country, culture or religion."

"The Immigrants" is targeted to fifth graders studying American history, many of whom are learning about the immigrants' arrival and treatment at Ellis Island.

Spears and her trained volunteers go into classrooms and show students a film about Native Americans. They talk about family history, family heirlooms (names or artifacts), and family trees. Then they take part in activities allowing students to explore their own family history and culture.