Creating Youth-Led Conversations of Resilience
In 2012, six Sikh Wisconsinites were murdered while worshiping at the gurdwara in Oak Creek. In 2019, a photograph of students making a Nazi salute sent shockwaves through Baraboo. And in 2020, protesters for racial justice in Kenosha faced a violent response. These are just some of the examples of a worrying level of hate, violence, and domestic extremism in our communities in recent years.
To respond to these incidents–and incidents across the country–The National Endowment for the Humanities announced $2.8 million to fund United We Stand: Connecting Through Culture programs to address hate and hate-motivated violence around the country. Wisconsin Humanities is excited to announce that Youth Powered for Unity–a project spearheaded by Wisconsin Humanities, UW-Extension’s office of Positive Youth Development, and We Are Many United Against Hate–is one of those projects!
These projects follow the United We Stand initiative launched by the White House in 2022. Bringing together bipartisan political officials, civil rights groups, faith and community leaders, business leaders, law enforcement, media representatives, and cultural figures, the White House convened a national conversation on how to address hate-motivated violence and domestic extremism across the nation.
Youth Leadership
In Wisconsin, Youth Powered for Unity will empower high school students around the state to lead difficult conversations about hate, violence, and extremism in their communities. Through these conversations, Wisconsin youth will share stories of hate, survival, and resilience in Wisconsin, help to bridge the divides that shape our communities and work to strengthen our democratic values and institutions. This curriculum builds on and further develops the training opportunities at the heart of Wisconsin Humanities' Community Powered initiative, which builds resilience in communities by putting the tools of history, culture, and community conversation in the hands of civic-minded citizens.
In the coming months, Wisconsin Humanities will pull together stories from people all across the state who have experienced the consequences of hate, violence, and domestic extremism. Some of these stories will be familiar to those who have followed the Love Wisconsin project, and some of these stories will be new. We will convene a group of leaders from diverse communities in Wisconsin to ensure that our stories reflect the diversity and power of our state’s experiences. At Wisconsin Humanities, we believe that stories like these have the power to bring people together, reshape the way we see and live in our communities, and help combat hate and violence in our state. These stories will guide the conversations that youth will lead in communities across the state. As Stepha Valensky, an Organizational Learning and Training Specialist at UW-Extension, said “To address Wisconsin’s present-day inequalities, we must first understand its histories of violence and injustice. Youth leadership in these conversations will help to build a better future for our state.”
To coordinate this project, Wisconsin Humanities has hired Benny Witkovsky, a Ph.D. Candidate in the Department of Sociology at UW-Madison through the Mellon Public Humanities Fellowship. Benny comes to United We Stand with a background in researching social and political life in Wisconsin’s small cities, teaching the sociology of race and racism, and working on hate crimes and religious freedom policy in Washington D.C. “Every community in Wisconsin has the ingredients for hate violence, every community in Wisconsin can work to transcend that possibility,” Witkovsky said. “The goal of Youth Powered for Unity is to organize youth to be the voices in our communities for building that capacity.”
The United We Stand project will draw on work that UW Extension’s Positive Youth Development Institute has already begun around the state. “Extension is developing and implementing training across Wisconsin so youth can help to convene, host, and participate in conversations elevating the viewpoints and perspectives of community members,” said Dr. Matthew Calvert, UW-Madison Professor of Civil Society and Community Studies & Extension Youth Development Specialist. “The opportunity to work with Wisconsin Humanities in this effort to build understanding and relationships through local dialogue is critical at a time when challenges to social trust and sense of belonging in communities require renewed civic engagement.”
"Youth leadership is integral to the work we do in Extension,” agreed Monica Lobenstein, Learning Resources Specialist for UW-Madison Extension's Positive Youth Development Institute. ”Young people are the leaders of today, and this is an opportunity to build skills that support them in taking on the role."
Jeff Jacobson, the Liaison for School Projects for We Are Many United Against Hate, echoed the critical role that youth play in addressing hate and violence in our communities. “Students of today are excited to be active participants in their communities,” He said. “ At We Are Many- United Against Hate, we are pleased to partner with the United We Stand project as we seek to amplify this student voice by developing skills and providing both opportunities and support for this activism to become reality.”
Youth Powered for Unity will work with groups of high school students around the state to pilot our new curriculum. These conversations will bring together people of all ages and backgrounds and will be open to anyone from the public who would like to learn from young people in their communities. Youth groups and community organizations that are interested in helping pilot this program should contact Benny at benny.witkovsky@wisconsinhumanities.org