THE DAY OF SILENCE AT WEST CENTRAL AREA.
A peaceful protest; or an excuse to get harassed?

As many of you may or may not know, today was The Day Of Silence. Some of us West Central Area students got together and participated in DOS. We proudly stand silent for now only those who have lost their lives; but those who still remain silent. They remain silent because they are scared of the name-calling, bullying, and harassment. This year it was dedicated to a special event. On February 12th, 2008, a 15 year old boy named Lawrence King was shot in the head twice by a 14 year old. Lawrence was shot for being gay; for being himself. He lost his life at just the age of fifteen. Slurs such as "faggot" and "dyke" are very common among schools these days. We stand silent, for the silenced. Though we stood up for peoples rights, and said not one word; there was several instances where we were bothered, and harassed. Walking through the halls, we heard not only whispers, but deliberate out bursts of words. Lines such as "I see faggots," "Look at me! I'm supporting the gays just like them!" were heard from Lisa John. During choir, when Mr.Poiser left the room, Kieth had the nerve to tell me "Tehya! Stop supporting the gays!" Going throughout the halls seeing our posters that were only on our lockers, not bothering any, taken off. Taken off and torn up, taken off and turned around. Jerrod Anderson, a best friend of mine who was participating in DOS, had a rainbow painted on his arm with "I Support" written by it. Spencer Christiansen and Matt Blehr had the guts to say "Next week, we're going to come to school with our arms painted black and white saying 'I don't support.' " Someone, we still don't know who, had the BALLS to say "Lindsay should just do what her Dad did, then she'll be silenced for life." I don't know what happened with her Dad, but you can tell just from that, that is passing the line. Throughout the day, we were all fighting back witty, sarcastic, and rude comments back. But we remained proud, and silent. We had our principle call down several people who were participating in it. It was not hard to point us out. Words written on our faces, arms, duct tape over our mouths, and rainbows all over us. Yet he tried to start a conversation with Carly Gaytan, a participant. He called over another participant, Alisha Harper, to talk about her grades. We were all carrying around a piece of paper and a pen in case we had something we needed to be said. When he said it to her, he said "Oh, and you can't reply by writing." Yet, she remained silent. These are only some of the things that happened today. These are only some of the things that we know of. These are only some of the reasons that prove why we remain silent. On the bus ride home, we all joined together and broke the silence. We talked about how the day went, and all of the harassment that went on. We found out eighteen people remained silent at least five sixths of the day, and some people tried, but ended up slipping up. I'd like to thank EVERYONE who didn't talk, or TRIED not to talk. We all said something with meaning in one sentence. Then we summarized the day, in meaning, in no less than three sentences. Here are some of the things that were said.

JERROD ANDERSON;;
"Trying to bring us down for our beliefs is like bombing for peace or fucking for virginity."

"I am sickened that people in our school used our beliefs as an excuse to make fun of us. I honestly hope that It wont take them long to realize that what they did, is exactly what we are standing against. We were Harassed, and we were silent. We were met with disheartening actions, but we remained silent. I am proud that I have taken part in this protest, and I'm positive that all 18 of my other friends were too."






EMMA CHASTEEN;;
"It's amazing how many voices were heard through our silence."

"Today was far worse than I had imagined. I expected a tiny bit of shit from people, but I was blown away at how much hate we received. All for being silent?"






JESSI DEANDA;;
"It was fun, except for the fuckers who were bent on ruining everything."

"I had a sign on my locker; it was ripped off and torn to pieces. I was called a tresbian (because I'm totally a dude, ya know?) and I was stared and laughed at. My friends and I were called queer, faggots, and other things. But I'd still do it again."






LAUREN ULRICH;;
"Define normal, can you? I didn't think so, normal is what we see on TV, happy family. I'd like to see ABC make a sitcom about a gay couple that would top the charts."

Today was epic. I saw tears, smiles, and black X's. I was silent. When I got home, my Mother yelled at me for everything. I smiled at her and said, "Mum, today I saw three things, black, white, and rainbows. The day was average, despite the fact, we were silent, so understand that I am different."






TEHYA JOHNSON;;
"I knew we had some anti-LGBT people in my society, but I had no idea how bad it was until I actually stood up for it."

"The day started out great; we got together, showed each other what we had, and hung up posters. We return to the halls filled with name calling and harassment. Just shows them ten times more why we still remained silent."






Think about it...
What are you going to do to break the silence?