Rogers Students Plan Diversity Workshops

Fawn Gray has Martin Luther King’s “I Have a Dream” speech tacked on her bedroom wall.

“It’s something I live by,” the Rogers High School senior said.

Gray, who is Native American, and other Rogers students of color say King’s message is a beacon of hope to them. But they say many of their classmates see Martin Luther King Day as little more than a day off from school.

So the students, with teacher Sandy MacQuinn, have organized 15 workshops that celebrate diversity.

“Although Martin Luther King was a man of great vision, we’re not there yet,” MacQuinn said.

The workshops feature such fun activities as making masks, dream catchers and origami. A reggae band will play in one workshop and a video done by comedians with disabilities will be shown in another.

“We’re celebrating people’s diversity, we’re also looking at the harder issues,” MacQuinn said.

The workshops will be held Friday afternoon in place of a pep rally that Rogers has traditionally held.

“People thought the pep rally was stupid and no one learned anything,” said Chris Goldsmith, a junior, who is active in the African American Men’s Group. “I still hear students talk about, ‘He didn’t do anything for us.”’

But students of color look up to King.

“Why do they just have Martin Luther King Day?” said Jessica Wood, a junior, who is Filipino and Hawaiian native. “We should talk about the things he accomplished and the civil rights movement every day of the year.”

Goldsmith believes, King’s leadership in the civil rights movement changed the world the he now lives in.

Goldsmith believes that King’s leadership opened doors so that now a young African American man, like himself, can live comfortably in the predominantly white neighborhood on the North Side of Spokane.

Wood sees the opportunities she has to get jobs or even attend private schools because of King’s work in breaking down barriers.

But junior Nicole Lawrence said racism still hasn’t disappeared at Rogers or in society in general.

White students still call her and other African American students names. Others tell her that if she doesn’t like America, she should go back to Africa.

Quincy Williams, an African American junior, said people in school and out of school get suspicious whenever they see him and his friends together in a group.

“It’s just things that African American men have to live with in Spokane,” he said.

But Williams hopes the workshops Friday will open some eyes at Rogers.

“I hope people will share their cultures,” Williams said. “I want people to know where I’m coming from and why I react to certain things.”

Distinguished teacher

Misumi Sadler, who teaches Japanese at Mead High School, lectured at the conference for the American Council of Teachers of Foreign Language last month.

Sadler is a master teacher at a national training program for high school Japanese teachers.

She said preparation and training of teachers for teaching Japanese has not kept up with the demand from students who want to learn the language.

Sadler teaches five Japanese classes a day at Mead. Before coming to Mead, she taught at Whitworth College for two years.

“I love this age group,” she said. “Teenagers are so quick and a lot of fun.”

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