Growing up in Washington, D.C., I lived a 10-minute drive from my favorite place in the city, Embassy Row. For years, I have adored visiting this long street of different cultures and countries. Participating in “Passport D.C.,” an event where embassies open their doors to visitors for a day, offering food, music and other cultural displays, was one of my favorite activities.
When I moved to Maryalnd many years ago, the level of cultural diversity and acceptance here formed a very similar environment to the one in D.C.. The diversity of identities and cultures around me is entrancing and I’ve always wanted to learn more about every new culture I’ve encountered. No event has captured my interest at WJ more than the numerous cultural assemblies and events that have taken place.
But something has become apparent: the blatant disrespectful behavior that occurs during these dazzling displays of culture. For these past four years, I’ve been attending assemblies at this school. The Black Student Union assembly and most recently the Hispanic and Latin-American assembly have been filled with instances of disruptive behavior including, but not limited to, laughing at performers and making insensitive comments.
Co-president of the Hispanic Latino Student Union, senior Elisa Karich, finds disruptive behavior during assemblies disheartening.
“It’s really hurtful. It denigrates all the work we put into making the assembly, something we’ve been putting effort into since the start of the year,” Karich said.
With the recent Hispanic and Latin American assembly, a noticeable change has been made to mitigate negative comments and behavior during cultural displays.
“We had a lot of issues getting the assembly in the first place because of the horrible comments. But in the end, we realized that it only made us want to do it more, so people could be educated and exposed to different cultures,” Karich said.
For the first time, teachers were visibly present, sitting among the students, which was something non-existent over the years during cultural assemblies I have attended. Because of this, compared to other cultural assemblies in past years, this assembly performed significantly better in terms of the importance of keeping disrespectful behavior and hurtful words to a minimum.
Students in attendance noticed this change in behavior to the Hispanic and Latin American culture assembly. One such student, Senior Jose Mendoza, noted this improvement.
“People were generally more respectful than I’ve grown accustomed to. There were some giggles when there were technical mishaps, but it still felt significantly more respectful than normal,” Mendoza said.
This assembly showed a massive decrease in rude behavior. Suppose assemblies like this continue to have more adults present, or even more enforcement to mitigate blatant disrespect. In that case, we cannot only open our eyes and learn more about the cultures around us, but we can also create a more welcoming environment where performers feel more encouraged and proud to share their identities.