The "Community Conversation on Race and Identity Safety" is being hailed a success by organizer Becki Cohn-Vargas, the director of elementary education in the Palo Alto Unified School District.

The community came together to discuss racial roles and stereotyping at the Nov. 15 meeting in the Paly library.

Sponsored by the Palo Alto PTA Council, Palo Alto Unified School District, City of Palo Alto’s Human Relations Commission, and Youth Community Service, the event invited members of the community to talk about the achievement and safety of students of color. According to Cohn-Vargas, the conversation was started six years ago to stimulate knowledge of identity in the classroom.

"Identity safety is still a new concept to many people," Cohn-Vargas said. "At school, teachers are trying to be colorblind and not acknowledging a student’s identity. Students of color feel as if their identity has been stolen. Teachers need to create classrooms that feel safe for students to be themselves."

The event commenced with an opening statement by professional storyteller and performing artist Awele Makeba. She entertained the audience with her enthusiastic, animated tale of visiting her African-American grandmother in the Deep South. The crowd, which included children, elderly, students, and parents, applauded and cheered when she sang the inspiring words of her grandmother. "If dirt gets thrown on your back, shake it off, stomp it down, and rise to the next level," Makeba said, describing living under the Jim Crow laws of the South.

Other guest speakers included Ron Davis, the chief of police in East Palo Alto; DeAngela Burns-Wallace, the assistant dean of admissions at Stanford University; Dana Tom, a PAUSD school board member; and Isidro Pimentel, the district webmaster. All had inspiring stories of how they made a difference in the community, and how they had overcome adversity. Once all the panelists had spoken, the conversation was turned to a group of student volunteers and the audience, who broke off into smaller groups with each panelist to ask questions.

According to Cohn-Vargas, the event was a success. "I was pleased to hear each panelist and see the exchange with the participants," Cohn-Vargas said. "There were great conversations. When it was time to end, people didn’t want to stop talking." She also thought that the discussion was important to ethnic rights and safety in the Palo Alto community. "I wanted people to come away feeling possibilities for their lives or as parents, or teachers. It is always good to bring together people from all ethnic groups, all ages, and from different parts of the community together."

Although the conversation takes all year to plan, the sponsors plan to continue the tradition due to its importance in the community. "The work needs to be done all year, but coming together works. I was inspired myself, and got e-mails today from others who said it was a powerful evening," Cohn-Vargas said.