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(Alicia Gomez / Lincoln Lion Tales)

On the morning of April 1st several students and educators met at Notre Dame High School in downtown San Jose for the San Jose Schools for Justice (SJ)^2 teach-in. A teach-in is a day long seminar that educates you about a certain topic, in this case it was social justice. Students and educators from Santa Teresa High School, Cristo Rey High School, Peter Burnett Middle School, Abraham Lincoln High School, Notre Dame High School, Bellarmine, Archbishop Mitty High School, Leland High School, San Jose High School and Presentation High School gathered for an empowering experience.

Ms. Borja who is the advisor of the hope and healing club at Lincoln decided to take part in the San Jose Schools for Justice because her old teacher at Notre Dame told her about it. “Teachers bit at the opportunity,” said Ms. Borja. Ms. Borja said, “[Youth] are told you matter you’re our future, but where’s the space to really feel that difference?” And that’s why it’s important for students to be apart of this program. She also said, “any student can join this it isn’t just about politics it’s about social justice.”

To start off the event students and educators that entered chose two sessions they would like to attend. Fake news, empowering the LGBTQ community, being an activist, and immigration were of the many sessions that were offered. Then students from the high schools explained what SJ^2 was all about. The group is all about having a safe space to voice concerns and problems about social justice. They also take action upon their concerns which is why they decided to have a teach-in.

At about 10am retired judge LaDoris Cordell gave an extremely empowering speech to the crowd. She began by telling stories about the importance of up-standers in communities. A famous up-stander she mentioned was Harriet Tubman. LaDoris then proceeded to say, “Harriet Tubman should be on the twenty dollar bill.” She believes in her statement so much that she printed out faulty twenty dollar bills with a Harriet Tubman face right on the center. After her speech she handed out the Tubman bills to the audience so that they would be reminded to be an up stander in their communities.

At about 11am the audience was feeling inspired and groups gathered to do activities that required team work. A group consisted of about twelve people, who all held a 10 foot pipe with a single index finger. The challenge was to get the pipe to the ground without dropping it, which required a great amount of teamwork and communication, but it was possible.

A group went to the next station and they gathered in a circle and held hands. The task was to maneuver a hoola hoop around the entire circle, while being timed. The fastest time a group was able to get was 48 seconds. There were other activities as well but each of them consisted of working together to achieve a common goal. Clearly the activities were a metaphor for the problems in our society and as a community we needed to work together to reach our goal.

After the activities the educators and students attended their chosen sessions. The first session a group attended was about Fake News, the Notre Dame Technology Coordinator instructed the session. She was extremely informative about how to spot fake news. How to spot fake news: it’s bias, it looks satire-ish, it looks clickbait-y, question the source, go to an online website like Snopes.com to check if it actually is fake news. Many people make fake news to get views which helps bring a source of income.

The next session a group attended was called the “Real talk on Immigration.” The group watched a few minutes of a heart wrenching documentary about immigration called Indivisible. Young teens who live in the United States thanks to the Development, Relief, and Education for Alien Minors (DREAM) act talk about their rough lives without their families who have been deported to Mexico.

If you would like to attend, there will be a screening at Notre Dame on Wednesday, April 26 from 5:00 pm to 7:15 pm. Sign up here 

Ms. Borja said, “Our current political climate is not going in the direction I think many of our youth envisioned…..We have Obama who instilled hope and I think a lot of youth were like sweet, we have a Black president who gets it. And all of a sudden it was like wait, are we going backwards? So it’s important for students to get involved in this so they know that they do have power and their voice matters….and they can create change.”