What Can We Do to Reduce Hate and Violence in Ourselves and Our Society?

Hate and Violence Perhaps one of the greatest challenges we face in the United States today is the need to reduce hate and violence in ourselves and our society. As a teacher in a juvenile detention facility, I have struggled with ways to teach children nonviolent approaches to conflict, and the importance of tolerance and respect for others.

This paper will describe student responses to a movie program designed to teach core values of non-violence and tolerance, and discuss these findings in the larger context of the juvenile criminal justice system and society. In my last eight years as a teacher at a juvenile detention facility, I have struggled to find meaningful ways to reach my students.

Students are often highly resistant to both authority and advice from sources that they initiated a Friday afternoon movie program at the juvenile detention facility as a way to encourage nonviolence as a literary study. This format was chosen because it may be a way to introduce the concept of nonviolence in a way that is non-threatening and approachable for my students. Further, it masquerades as entertainment, encouraging participation in the program. Movies for this program are chosen carefully.

Specifically, movies such as Remember the Titans, Radio, Second Hand Lions, and even Shrek are chosen as examples of cooperative problem solving for young people. These stories encourage the audience to cheer for the non-violent side, and show non-violence as a real solution to problems. My student's responses to the non-violent theme of these movies have been largely positive. Radio, Remember the titans, and secondhand Lions have elicited written comments that reveal the importance of the movie program in teaching respect and tolerance for differences. Cody J.

age 15, with a history of truancy, terroristic threats, assault, and drug abuse notes the value of the program in teaching respect for others. Writes Cody, J., "I'v learned how to respect other's that arenot as intelagent as us. I'v also learned that you don't' have to be the same to be a friend" (all spelling and punctuation is that of the student). The educational aspect of the Friday movie program seems to be a positive inducement for some students participating in the program.

Anthony W., age 16, with a history of drug abuse, truancy, burglary, and the father of 2 mo. old daughter notes, "To me, the Friday Afternoon Movie Program is a good, educational time. To me it is not at all entertainment because we don't watch action movies, or comedies.

We watch movies about people who overcome unbelievable obstacles in life....These movies give us hope." Based on the responses of students, the Friday afternoon program seems to have been successful in legitimizing concepts like respect and tolerance among many students like Margarita A. Age 14, Margarita A. has a history as terroristic threat, truancy, and drug abuse. Pregnant with first child, Margarita A. notes the how the Friday afternoon program has inspired her to learn respect and understanding.

Writes Margarita A., "First of all I think we should watch movies on Friday afternoons because it is inspiring. Because the movies that we see aren't bad or anything they teach us how to learn and respect each other no matter what color or reasons." The children in this program are enthusiastic about the selection of movies, and participate willingly, thereby suggesting that they are internalizing many of the key themes from the movies.

As Oscar Wilde said, "It is what you read when you don't have to that determines what you will be when you can't help it" (QuoteGarden). Given the largely positive responses of students to the Friday program, it is clear that this program may play an important role in helping students understand the negative impact of hate and violence. Further, students are learning nonviolent alternatives as solutions to a variety of conflicts, and seem to be developing an understanding of the importance of tolerance and diversity.

As hopeful as the results of this Friday afternoon program are, it is important to remember that while they may help specific individuals, they do not address some of the larger issues in juvenile criminal justice today. A great deal of debate in the juvenile criminal justice system surrounds issues like trying juveniles in adult courts, programs like the "three strikes" initiative, and the role of the federal government in reducing juvenile crime (Monk; Walker).

Today, many critics argue that the existing criminal justice system simply serves to "harden" juveniles, thus bringing them more deeply into a live of crime. This movie program is an initiative aimed at stopping the cycle of violence and hate in the criminal justice system, and giving youth a chance to develop tolerance and understanding of others. In order to truly reduce hate and violence in ourselves and our society, society as a whole is obliged to take a hard look at the roots of destructive tendencies in our society.

Poverty, racism,.