Feb 7, 2022
We are living in perilous times. Racism, homophobia, anti-immigrant violence and misogyny have been unleashed, normalized and embraced by elected leaders and regular citizens, from school boards to state legislatures and Capitol Hill. Organized hate groups are expanding their ranks by targeting an aggrieved citizenry and most recently children. Middle and high school students, who have been isolated and tethered to their devices throughout an ongoing pandemic are particularly susceptible to these manipulations. The Western States Center, acclaimed for its systems-based approach to building a 21-century civil rights movement, is standing up for these young people. It created a toolkit, Confronting White Nationalism to guide impacted schools in how to intervene when students are on the receiving end of abuse or are being recruited into the fold. Adrienne van der Valk, leads the training and is growing its footprint across the nation. She talks to Power Station about engaging students without shaming them, the pervasive role of anti-Semitic conspiracy theories, the heroism of teachers who navigate these conditions without support and the obligation we all share to confronting hate.