By Jessica Ngo

CATS students speaking out against racism during the Anti-Racism Day Forum

On Friday, November 3rd, Ms. Carroll and the LGBTQ Alliance Club held an Anti-Racism Open Forum in the Student Lounge. Earlier in the week, teachers and students shared their experiences with racism in a brief video in the CATS Morning Announcements. The open forum on Friday continued this discussion, giving the CATS community a safe place to open up about their personal experiences with racism and to learn more about other people’s point of view on this sensitive topic.

Racism is discrimination based on differences in ethnicity and skin color. Anti-racism is the movement against racism that advocates for racial tolerance. The purpose of Anti-Racism Day is to help spread the idea that everyone is the same despite differences in race. Having an event at CATS where students and faculty from around the world can speak up about racism is especially important.

Personally, I think that the forum was an amazing opportunity for students to have their voices heard on racism. Every one of us may experience the effects of discrimination during our lifetime based on our own racial differences or those of our friends and family. I was impressed by how many people spoke up at the forum and shared stories of racism and how it has affected them and the people around them.  

A big thank you to all who participated in the event. Special thanks go out to Ms. Carroll, Ms. Doyle, Anastasia Dvoryanchikova, Norah Laoui, and Martina Ibrahim who worked hard to make Anti-Racism Day possible. They worked together and came up with many ideas and questions that helped get the conversation on racism started at CATS.

Many thanks to Anastasia Dvoryanchikova for letting me interview her and for sharing great behind-the-scenes stories for this article.