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May 18, 2013  |  About the Berkley Center  |  Directions to the Center  |  Subscribe
 
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Clara Gustafson A senior in the School of Foreign Service at Georgetown University, Clara Gustafson is majoring in Science, Technology, and International Affairs with a focus on Technology and Security. After her...
Where do young people come down on questions of faith, values, and public life? How do they relate their values to public policy issues including education, economic inequality, and the environment? These questions, critically important for the 2012 election, are at the center of a campus conversation being organized by the Berkley Center and Georgetown University. This blog features an ongoing conversation about these issues between students selected as Millennial Values Fellows through a national competition. You can read and comment on their blogs here.

To learn more about the project, visit the Campus Conversation on Values page.

OTHER POSTS

Millennials on Social Media and Politics

November 15, 2012

Millennials on Social Issues and Diversity

November 12, 2012

Hira Baig (Rice) on Why the Presidential Election Matters to Millennials

November 7, 2012

Millennials on Religion and Interfaith Work

November 7, 2012

Ryan Price (Drake) on E Pluribus Duo

November 6, 2012

Mohammad Usman (DePauw) on Unpredictable Millennials

November 5, 2012

Millennials on Affirmative Action Policy

November 3, 2012

Seth Warner (Vassar) on What Happens as the "God Gap" Widens

November 2, 2012

Josina De Raadt (Dordt) on How Social Media Is Like Wii Bowling

October 31, 2012

Zachary Yentzer (Arizona State) on the Next Greatest Generation

October 29, 2012

Brice Ezell (George Fox) on Post-Racial America? Race, Millennials, and the 2012 Election

October 25, 2012

Tyler Bishop (Vanderbilt) on a Future of Hashtags #whatitmeansforus

October 23, 2012

Brice Ezell (George Fox) on How the People Can Heal a “Divided,” Partisan Nation

October 4, 2012

Hira Baig (Rice) on Religion and American Democracy

October 4, 2012

Tyler Bishop (Vanderbilt) on How It’s All About Relatability: Voter Turnout

October 3, 2012

Josina De Raadt (Dordt) on Mistaking Politics for a Hollywood Blockbuster

October 2, 2012

Mohammad Usman (DePauw) on the Internet Solution

October 1, 2012


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Salt of the Earth
October 17, 2008
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April 24, 2009

Clara Gustafson (Georgetown) on the Role of Music and Education in Creating and Bridging Racial Divides

September 3, 2012

The shooting at the Sikh Temple again awakened me to the violence that still pervades racial (and religious) discrimination in the United States. When we do not properly engage hate and discrimination, through education and dialogue, it always exists.
As I followed the Sikh Temple news and more information was revealed about the man behind the shooting, underground habits of his came to light. Wade Page was a guitarist and bassist in what is called a “hatecore” band. He played with multiple different bands, all of which use their lyrics to disseminate hate. The New York Times article that reported on this quotes Mark Pittcavage, Director of the Anti-Defamation League, “[hatecore] is one of the pillars of the white supremacist sub-culture”.

Many movements have used music to motivate and rally support. The US army, as well as many other nations, used music to rally troops to war. In this day and age music has largely become a way to communicate across cultures and generations. For example, in almost any country you travel to you can find a CD of Celine Dion. I do, therefore, understand the motive and logic behind employing music to motivate.

However this is the first I had heard of such a sub-culture- “hatecore”. It saddens me to think that such a way of life still persists in the United States. How the KKK have still managed to hang on in the form of hatecore boggles my mind.

How do you tackle a problem that doesn’t want to be solved? And keeps morphing into new versions of the same deep-seeded issue?

The answer in all cultural issues of acceptance is education and exposure. However, how do you go about facilitating an educational, exposing environment that is also organic, as well as reflective and supportive of the human experience?

I propose an easy three step, fool-proof way to stamp out racism in America: #1 Do not always teach the victor’s version of history; #2 Use the classroom from Pre-K onwards to foster an appreciation, through creative means, for cultures besides your own; #3 Live in a place where you are a minority. These steps are of course too simplified and small, but it's a place to start. And it has to start somewhere, in every life of every person in America, or else nothing will change.