A few days ago, my school held an assembly called Rachel’s Challenge. Someone named Cody came and talked to my school about what happened at Columbine High School and about Rachel Scott, who was the first person killed. Rachel’s Challenges were to be kinder to everyone, accept everyone, etc. Rachel’s story touched everyone at the assembly and everyone around me cried. Cody asked everyone in the audience, after the presentation, whether we accepted Rachel’s Challenge. Everyone’s hands shot up.
After the assembly, a lot of people were saying that they were going to be better and kinder and be more inclusive. They weren’t so true to their words. Here’s an example:
When we played a game in English (heads-up seven up), seven girls ran up to the front (the same ones who’ve gone up every time we start a game), and everyone else put their heads down. Then the first seven people were picked and the seven girls ran back to the front and told everyone to lift their heads up. The people who were picked stood up and tried to guess who picked them. Then the game started again.
After more people were picked, we lifted our heads up and the same people who were picked the first round, stood up again. (I didn’t think much of it considering I don’t really care for the game much, anyway.) So the people tried to guess who picked them and some got it right and switched.
So then we were on the third round and the same people were picked again. The game went on like this. Like I said, I don’t really care for the game much, but I thought this was unfair because some people wanted to play but they were being excluded. I could tell the kids who were being excluded didn’t think it was fair either. I just pulled out my book and started reading. A few minutes later the bell rang and everyone left.
I’m not complaining, just explaining and giving an example of how some people can’t change. It’s always been the same way: the same group of people excluding everyone else.
It’s not always with that game, but it’s with a lot of other things. If there’s someone new at the school, groups for assignments, free seating in classes, etc. People may say that they’ll be more inclusive, but sometimes, those are just words with nothing behind them.