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YWCA Holds ‘Why Words Matter’ Discussion in Honor of MLK Jr.

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The Greenwich YWCA held a panel discussion on "Why Words Matter" featuring, from left, Dr. Sal Corda, Bobby Walker Jr., Deirdre Daly and moderator Steve Ginsburg. (Evan Triantafilidis photo)
The Greenwich YWCA held a panel discussion on “Why Words Matter” featuring, from left, Dr. Sal Corda, Bobby Walker Jr., Deirdre Daly and moderator Steve Ginsburg. (Evan Triantafilidis photo)

By Evan Triantafilidis
Sentinel Reporter

In a standing room only crowd last Wednesday at the Greenwich YWCA, a panel of local community leaders hosted a discussion about hateful rhetoric in an event honoring Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.

The annual event was centered on the theme “Why Words Matter” and featured moderator Steve Ginsburg, the Connecticut Regional Director for the Anti-Defamation League, Bobby Walker Jr., CEO of the Boys and Girls Club of Greenwich, Deirdre Daly, the U.S. Attorney for the state of Connecticut, and Dr. Salvatore Corda, the interim superintendent for Greenwich Public Schools.

Walker, the director of the Boys and Girls Club of Greenwich for nearly three years, says the increase in hateful and racist rhetoric is aided by national discussion being filtered down through social media.

“Unfortunately, people are saying a lot of things,” said Walker. “Our concern is making sure the words that kids are using and what the kids are hearing, don’t become the things that our kids believe. The minute they begin to believe them, they will act on them.”

Walker also spoke of building an atmosphere where all kids feel safe, and named the Boys and Girls Club as one of the most diverse places in the entire town.

“We talk constantly about what a community is, and how everyone plays a role in protecting that community,” said Walker. “I’m proud that we do live in a community where we can talk about this topic in a room of standing room only. I think that is very powerful.”

Dr. Corda, brought in as the interim superintendent last spring, spoke about the type of dialogue he hoped to both eliminate and initiate in the students at Greenwich High School.

“The interesting thing about schools is that, in many ways, they are a microcosm of society,” said Dr. Corda. “If you’re not nice to each other in a school and it has a negative effect about what is going on in the classroom, the same thing happens out there in the world. For a lot of kids, when they see that, it troubles them. Part of what we try to do is to engage them in that kind of dialogue that is going to help them make sense out of that.”

Despite students’ spending a majority of their day in school, many will also observe the behavior of their peers and leaders outside the school setting.

“We’ve only got them for a certain amount of time during the day,” said Dr. Corda. “They look to those people who are in positions of power and leadership. They observe their behavior and they take their cues about what society wants to be like based on what it is they see.”

On hand for the panel discussion were First Selectman Peter Tesei, Selectman Drew Marzullo, members of the Greenwich Police Department, and other local leaders of area non-profit organizations.

“We have undertaken a very concerted effort within our community to set a standard of discourse and the level of civility we expect from our community,” said Tesei. “While we take strides to ensure that, there are 63,000 people who make up this town and their behaviors cannot be necessarily controlled. But we can set that standard.”

The panel also discussed the role of the news media in times when people are eager to voice their opinions and their words sometimes turn harmful, intentionally or not.

“If you own a newspaper, you have the right to say whatever you want,” said Dr. Corda. “Newspapers have points of view. The power of the media has the power to control you if you let them control you.”

Dr. Corda cited politically charged situations in which one outlet’s news will be another’s defamation, depending on its point of view.

Daly, the U.S. attorney for Connecticut since March 2014, said she’s generally optimistic about the media’s future.

“I think the media can play a positive role,” she said. “Normally, the media reports on ‘bad’ events, and that is sort of the nature of the media. But I think there are instances where the media reaches out and tries to report positive instances. I think this generation is very open-minded, progressive, and that a lot of the biases that other generations carried, I think, do not exist with many young people today. That is very encouraging, because that is our future.”

Walker added, “Good or bad, the media has a lot of power. Kids repeat what they see and what they hear.”

Walker recalled an instance at the Boys and Girls Club when a youngster repeated a line of a popular rap song without understanding the context behind the words.

“We have to be careful,” added Walker. “If someone does not step into the situation to break it down, and it goes unchecked, then maybe that child doesn’t learn that there are certain words that you do not say.”

 

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