Diversity Conference

By SHILOH LIU ‘22

On the weekend of November 3rd-4th, nine people from Milton attended a conference at Phillips Academy Andover. The Boston Mobilization Social Justice Leadership Institute (SJLI) attempted to give students from New England independent schools a chance to explore the topics of race, gender, sexuality, and more. The conference intended to help students build a supportive community, and through a multi-racial team of staff, “[have] moments of appreciation and articulate things in a certain way,” as Ms. bargar, one of the faculty chaperones, said.

The SJLI was a two-day program, designed to focus mainly on race for the first day and gender for the second. In the beginning, “[students] were asked to split up into [their] racial affiliation groups,” explained Victoria Fawcett ‘22, one of the three freshmen who attended. These affinity groups included African, Hispanic, Asian Americans, and white students. Fawcett “joined the small group of white students.” Ironically, there were only “five [in her group] out of almost forty students,” and she couldn’t help but notice “the unrecognizable pressures of being part of a minority.” After their two-hour affinity meeting, Fawcett and her group “[presented their] promise,” which was “to never ‘take’ another person’s culture and traditions away from their rightful owners and ignore prejudices [people] may have toward [one another] based on the color of their skin.” In addition to her overwhelming experience, Fawcett said that “this presentation allowed [her] to hear the opinions of other racial affinity groups and help better understand what [she] can do to create a more equal community.” She talked about her “roller coaster of emotions” while hearing personal stories and participating in a discussion that involved a very “high level of engagement” from everyone.

In a similar manner, Ms. bargar, the chaperone, thinks this conference was essential for students to be well-informed global citizens. When asked about the discussions on race, bargar said that there are “issues on social media” that are relevant and urgent to our society. For example, she remembered an anecdote about a white man shouting, “This is America! Speak English!” at two Native Americans speaking their native language. Bargar noted that this event turned out to be very ironic since Native Americans are technically more “American” than the man is. As she spoke more in depth, Ms. bargar also shared with us the definition of having  “privilege.” Being white doesn’t necessarily signify an equal sign to privilege. Being Jewish herself, she felt agonized over the Pittsburgh synagogue massacre, and she wanted to appear as visibly Jewish as she could to show people that she is proud of her identity.

There are just too many factors that determine a person’s “privilege.” The SJLI last week provided students a chance to delve into those serious social justice problems that are shaping our world today. It was truly a blast and a special experience for our Milton participants. Our schoolmates have participated, learned, and most of all, grown into individuals who care more about the world.