Amnesty International and the Beachcomber led an open forum dubbed Herd Against Hate on Nov. 4 in the community room.

The goal of the forum was for students to express their feelings about violence and hatred in society and to listen to one another.

“One of the primary goals was to first just increase communication between students,” said sophomore Elizabeth Metz, who proposed the idea for the forum during a discussion in the journalism class. “Another primary aspect of the whole forum was to just acknowledge and listen to voices of other students who may not feel the same way as you do.”

“In the end, people realize we have diversity but the inclusion aspect is something that needs to be repaired,” Metz added.

Junior Tyler Pohlman opened the forum with a short speech about goals. He emphasized that the event was organized for students by students, and it is up to students to be the change.

“We the students are the future leaders of this world- and leaders don’t have someone to hold their hand for them,” Pohlman said. “…Show love in the face of hate. Let’s come out of here today with the willingness to make change and to better our world.”

Metz then presented a slideshow with statistics of mass shootings since Columbine. Senior Orly Einhorn commented on a slide with a list the mass shootings, explaining that it could happen in any school– even in Beachwood.

“We would become a statistic- would become just another school shooting. People who lost a friend, whose class is a little bit emptier, that could have been us,” she said.

After the slideshow the rules for the forum were explained. Students could raise their hands and answer questions. Everyone had to respect everyone’s opinions, and there could be no interruptions. However, if someone wanted to respond to something they could request to the moderator for an immediate reply.

Before the forum, students throughout the school were asked to indicate on a banner whether they feel safe at school and if they’ve ever been treated differently because of their race and/or gender. Half of the responses indicated that the students did not feel safe at school.

“That means that if you feel safe at school, the person next to you doesn’t,” Metz said.

Students at the forum were then asked questions about hate and violence. The first question was about how it feels to be a minority in Beachwood. Students said they felt like outcasts as part of a minority and that they did not feel like they belonged.

“Being a minority– we have to act a certain way to be accepted by other races, one student said. “We shouldn’t say the n-word, we shouldn’t talk ghetto. We should be able to talk to each other in the way we want to talk without having to conform to the white society.”

Many students emphasized the importance of unity and not being divided by race.

“We’re facing the same struggles so there’s no need to divide. We need to come together so we can face these struggles together,” freshman Greg Perryman said.

Orly Einhorn ended the forum with a statement of unity.

“It should matter to all of us when anything hateful happens in our country. Next time there is a hate act,” she said. “I want to see everyone coming out together. We as Americans need to stand together against any type of hate.”