In the News

Diversity Instructor Hasn't Forgotten Pain of Bigotry

By Heather J Carlson, hcarlson@postbulletin.com

May 27, 2005

Thirty-five years later, Brian Murphy still remembers the whispers and the stares.

As an 8-year-old, Murphy moved with his family from Wisconsin to Salt Lake City, Utah. Once they arrived, Murphy had his first taste of discrimination when some of his classmates treated him differently just because of his religion.

Those memories motivated the Rochester man to teach students in area schools the importance of respecting people from all backgrounds as part of the Diversity Council's Prejudice Reduction Workshop program.

"What I learned from that is that we can be happy with who we are," Murphy said. "We don't need to coerce other people to be who we are, and we can learn from other people and enjoy the differences."

Now more students than ever have a chance to hear about the value of diversity from Murphy and others.

The Diversity Council announced Thursday that a record 16,431 students in grades K-12 participated in the workshops during the 2004-2005 school year. That's a far cry from the 300 students taught when the program began a decade ago.

Kay Hocker, the council's Education Director, credits the group's close ties to area school districts and the one-of-a-kind curriculum for the program's success.

"Ninety percent of the teachers that participate in the Prejudice Reduction Workshops would recommend the session to another colleague," Hocker said.

The Diversity Council is a nonprofit organization based in Rochester aimed at educating people about the need to respect different cultures and promote tolerance.

This year, more school districts signed on for the workshops, including Stewartville and Mankato.

The council is in the midst of its annual fund-raising drive to raise money for the workshops. Since February, the group has raised $55,000 of its $80,000 goal.

Sunset Terrace fourth-grader Grant Eckhoff said that after participating in the workshop, he realized how important it is to treat people with respect. As part of the lesson, the instructors had two apples they passed to students. One of the apples was treated well. The other was called names and dropped on the floor. Afterwards they opened up the apples, and the one treated poorly had bruises throughout.

Grant, a member of the council, said these lessons can have a big impact on students.

If you feel what it's like to be bullied when you're young, you won't grow up to be a bully, he said.

© 2005 Post Bulletin. Used by permission.

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Diversity...It's all about respect.