African Americans, Jews examine'isms'

Hoping to break down boundaries by discussing stereotypes and racism, 16 students attended a workshop Sunday designed to promote better relations and increased understanding between African American and Jewish students at the University. The workshop, held at the Greenfield Intercultural Center, addressed "isms" including racism, sexism and other forms of prejudice and discrimination. The students were part of the Alliance and Understanding Program, which was created last September to facilitate relations between African Americans and Jews at Penn. GIC Assistant Director Karlene Burrell described the "Isms" workshop, Alliance and Understanding's second meeting of the semester, as "an effort to open the students' eyes to how the 'isms' affect us as individuals and how we can recognize 'isms' and find tools to combat the 'isms.'" Alliance and Understanding was organized by the African American Resource Center, Hillel and the GIC. The program met two weeks ago for the first time. The students participating in the program were selected because of their desire to promote the understanding of cultural differences on the Penn campus, as well as to work to improve relations among minority groups. One participant, College sophomore Ariel Bierbaum, described the program as "a stepping stone to address segregation on campus." Another Alliance and Understanding student, College freshman Sherise Lindsay, said she is "very excited about the program." "It will cause a lot of positive changes in the Penn community," said Lindsay, a Jewish Studies major. "This will open our eyes to see that all people have things in common." Marie Amey-Taylor from Temple University's Human Resources Department organized Sunday's workshop. Amey-Taylor said she planned the workshop to "set the foundation for a dialogue" between African American and Jewish students. Setting such a foundation "is one of the key goals for groups who don't know what to say to each other," she said. She added that the workshop is intended to help the "students to become more comfortable with each other, themselves [and] the topic of stereotypes, and engage in cross-culture communication." The program is planning a Spring Break trip to New York City, open to all Jewish and African American students, to increase interaction and understanding between the two groups. Although organizers and students ideally would like to visit Africa or Israel, Burrell said the program does not yet have any financial backing from the University for trips to other countries.