The Denver Post
February 1, 2004

by Diedtra Henderson

The word "gay" can be cruel, depending on how it's pronounced. Same goes for "Jew," if it's spat like a curse.

Moises Muñoz, a 16-year-old junior at Ranum High School in Westminster, wants to visit middle schools to teach younger kids a politically enlightened vocabulary. Mu?oz was one of about 850 students and faculty who shared hurt, hope and strategies for healing racial and ethnic strife within their schools Saturday at the 11th annual Diversity Conference at Cherry Creek High School. Teenagers who attended pledged to take one tolerance-building idea and run with it when they return to their schools.

Muñoz considered taking the hurtful-words tour to even younger students, but quickly dismissed it as a "little radical" for parents of elementary school children.

Cloistered in classrooms Saturday, each student-led conversation began with setting house rules: respecting diverse viewpoints, not interrupting speakers, maintaining confidentiality for teens who broached touchy topics.

The day-long conference was organized by students such as Tammy Segura, who has been leaving Greeley about 3 p.m. to get to Denver for 5 p.m. weekly organizing meetings held since September.

The 60 student organizers brainstormed, then broke into committees handling finance, publicity, the day's program and logistical details. By the end of the planning, they thought as one.

"Literally, we all become one," said Segura, a senior at Greeley West High School.

That planning attracted students from 85 Colorado schools and one Arizona junior high.

The students dropped school rivalries and, in many cases, sat on the floor in circles, nibbling on pizza and chewing over the root cause of school conflicts.

Cliques. Stereotypes. Economic disparity, which at Cherry Creek spawned assumptions by Asian-Americans and Hispanic students eating free and reduced-cost lunches in one cafeteria that "rich, white and snobby" students who eat in a different lunchroom got better meals.

Charles LaMar, with help from Englewood High School's True Colors diversity club, wants to try to reverse misperceptions held by white classmates about African-American students.

"The stereotype with all of them is we're all gangsters," LaMar said.

The 16-year-old sophomore already knows from role playing in civil rights class that stereotypes can be erased through honest discussion in small groups.

"You can start very small," he said. "Then, hopefully, it will build."

Ashley Crawford has a simple, golden rule that she wants to obey.

"I just want to bring back a positive attitude," said Crawford, 17, a junior at Pine Creek High School in Colorado Springs. "Forget about people's outside appearance and think about the inside."

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