While today is the day set aside to honor Dr. Martin Luther King
Jr., a man known for his work during the Civil Rights Movement of
the 1960s, local groups are working to improve issues of tolerance,
or respect for others.
Tolerance, as well as non-violence, are aspects of what King
advocated in his fight against racial discrimination and for equal
opportunity.
According to the American Heritage Dictionary, tolerance is the
capacity for or the practice of recognizing and respecting the
beliefs or practices of others.
To be tolerant of another not only includes tolerance of racial
and cultural differences, but also differences in religion,
disability, sexuality, weight or gender. Much of the 1960s “hate”
or non-tolerant behavior has changed or become lessened. One
example is the eradication of segregation.
But even with advances, there are still individuals and groups
that are intolerant of others.
Helene Lawson, program director of sociology, coordinator of
gender studies, and professor of sociology in the social sciences
division at the University of Pittsburgh at Bradford, explained
that there are many reasons for hate or intolerance.
“There are a lot of reasons for hatred – it could be fear of
strangers, and we form behaviors as kids of views not really
rational because of something we heard or read,” she said, adding
that many stereotypes are based on some fact, but can become
exaggerated and eventually completely made up.
Another reason for hatred or intolerance, Lawson said, is the
fact that people seek to blame hardship on someone else.
“When you find a scapegoat, you bond and it makes you feel
better,” she explained. “People feel if they get rid of or change
something that they will feel better. People tend to blame those
beneath them rather than looking at the rich or politicians or
businessmen.
“If people think other people are similar to them they are not
afraid, they think they know you and know what to expect,” she
said. “People like what is comfortable to them because we think we
know what to expect.”
When it comes to making an attempt at creating more tolerant
behavior, Lawson said people need more information, but they need
to be willing to take the information and learn from it.
“Education could help but people need to be open to it,” she
added. “And it depends on friends and family influences.”
Lawson described how she tackles a probable touchy situation
when she comes into contact with someone else.
“I say out loud what I am and what I do. You need to know we are
not exactly the same,” she said.
“I encourage my classes to share. As far as actual hate – kids
have preconceived ideas and I hope they are open when they come
here.
“We are not a melting pot, we have not melted into one person,”
she added. “Not everyone is assimilated. We should have a
multicultural world that people respect.
“We can’t all be the same; we can be treated equally but we are
not the same,” she said. “It’s good to look at all the differences
and learn.”
Referring to the fact that many people are still intolerant of
others, Lawson said, “I never thought I would live this long to see
the world still hate.”
In an effort to thwart behaviors of intolerance to others in the
form of bullying, the Bradford Area School District has been
involved in a district-wide program educating staff on what to do
when bullying issues rise.
The district hired Coleen Heim, a safe schools consultant and
anti-bullying trainer, who announced in October that the district
decided to use the Olweus Bullying Prevention Program to address
the problems in the district.
There are four components to the program including a school-wide
effort, a classroom effort, an individual effort and a community
effort.
In the school school-wide effort all personnel will be trained.
Chairman of the district committee and district school
psychologist, Sarah Schreiber, said each building has its own
individual committee to work on issues age-appropriate to the
school.
“It is usually a kindergarten through eighth grade program, but
we did decide to incorporate parts of it in the high school level,”
said Schreiber. “And it doesn’t focus just on bullying, but also
other types of anti-social behaviors.
“The goal is to raise awareness for adults as well as the
students and the community as a whole,” she added. “We are offering
the training at all four of our schools and invited other
non-public schools and asked them to send representatives. We are
getting the community’s interest; it’s nice to see.”
A district inservice today will include the training. Schreiber
said secretaries, instructional aides and cafeteria staff will also
be able to attend the training.
“It is not a curriculum, it is an awareness brought into the
school with the hopes of changing behaviors not only in the school,
but expand it to the community,” said Schreiber. “We started out
with good participation with community people and they have stayed
with it – it’s been great.”
Along the lines of promoting cultural diversity, Pitt-Bradford
has been holding an annual cultural festival since the 1990s. Each
year, the number of festival participants and activities grows.
The festival provides the attendee with the opportunity to feel,
see and taste items from different cultures. It is a night to get
to know and understand the meaning of another’s culture.
Last year’s festival featured the Trinidad and Tobago Steelband.
The festival committee is hoping to get a Latin dance band from
Pittsburgh to perform at this year’s event, which will be held from
5:30 to 9:30 p.m. Feb. 25 in the Frame-Westerberg Commons. The
event is open to the public.
Other opportunities for students at Pitt-Bradford to display a
common bond with others include several groups or organizations for
them to join. Those groups range from chemistry and art clubs to
clubs that allow members to share a common personal interest and
statement.
Examples include the Rainbow Alliance, which offers membership
for anyone, but is a group that invites lesbian, gay, bisexual and
transgender students. Christ in Action is open to anyone; some
members are non-Christian while others are Christian. Some members
are just curious and attend meetings to find out more.
One local man with a mental disability said he feels people
should be tolerant of others who can’t help the problems they may
have.
Roger Newton of Ormsby said he personally has not had problems
with others calling him names or treating him poorly because of his
illness, but he has heard his peers describe situations of teasing
and name-calling.
“I have been very lucky. I used to get out among people when I
worked for The Era and everyone seems to respect me,” he said.
“They have been kind to me because of how I can function.
“But I have heard people at (Dickinson) Partial
(Hospitalization) talk about how people tease them and call them
names,” he added.
Of his own experiences, Newton said, “Sometimes people try to
help me too much and think I am not capable of doing certain
things. They take over and I kind of resent that.
“But I know it’s for my own good,” he added.
Newton was diagnosed with obsessive compulsive disorder in 1980,
and he said, he has only just started believing that is what his
illness is a couple of months ago.
“I know now I have OCD and it’s not my fault. There is a lot of
mental anguish that goes on with these things,” he said. “It’s not
fun; it’s not something you choose and not everybody is violent.
Those kind of people are played up on television.
“There are the things in real life that happen like that woman
who drowned her kids – those are things that a well person would
not do, but there are a lot of things you can do to get help,”
continued Newton.
“You don’t choose to be mentally ill, it’s not your fault,” he
added.
Newton had been a full-time Era reporter when things started to
change for him, covering meetings became difficult and he had to
ask other reporters to fill in for him.
Eventually he, his co-workers and editors realized he could not
continue in his position because he spent more time obsessing than
he did writing.
“I couldn’t handle it,” he said. “But seeing how people react to
you and being seen as a person with mental challenges … but I have
been very fortunate, I am able to function pretty well.
“I would sit and talk to co-workers and they would admit they
couldn’t help me,” he said.
He said realizing he couldn’t cover work and meetings like he
had been able to before his diagnosis made him unhappy and sad.
“People have got to understand we didn’t ask for this,” he said.
“People go to the doctor for a broken arm and nobody even thinks
about it. But with mental illness it’s different, people have been
shut up in the attic because of it.
“And it is somewhat of a physiological illness when the brain
doesn’t work – that’s where the medications help you,” he said.
“And you get instruction on how to fight your ailment.”
He also talked of the anguish a person with a mental illness
goes through to find the right combination of medication and
therapy.
“You are like a guinea pig in a way – everyone gets different
medications and the doctors can agonize over what to use,” he
added.
“I am willing to do what I have to to get people’s attention,”
said Newton. “It’s ignorance (not to be mean) it’s not knowing and
not understanding.”
Newton also mentioned that May is Mental Health Awareness Month
where people with mental disabilities get the word out about what
it’s like for people with mental disabilities and work to erase the
stigma that goes along with it.
Newton said he is on a panel during the month of May to describe
to people what having a mental illness is like and he says he
always finishes with one statement:
“If you ever have any problems in life, get counseling,” he
said.
