On Friday, May 26, the Guilderland High School Student Voice Committee held its annual Anti-Hate Rally. The event featured student speeches, presentations and activities centered around this year’s theme: the importance of allyship. The rally was a culmination of Unity Week, a week-long celebration of events that brought the Guilderland High School community together, which included a Hands Across Guilderland homeroom activity, A Day in Your Shoes, Heritage Day, For Your Cause Day and Unity Day.
Student Voices
Sponsored by the Black Student Union, Feminist Club, March For Our Lives, Asian Student Union and Muslim Student Union, the rally provided a platform for the voices of marginalized and underrepresented students to be heard. Attended by students, teachers, staff, board of education and community members, all were encouraged to actively listen, remain open minded and learn from the event.
Student speakers boldly spoke about their personal experiences with prejudice and bigotry of varying proportions. Their stories and raw emotions gave attendees a true perspective on how they’ve endured 
derogatory and discriminatory speech, in addition to abhorrent injustices. Several students recalled comments made about their identities, physical appearance and mannerisms; some even spoke of the harassment they faced on a near daily basis. Others shared stories about their internal struggles with conflicting identities, their fears of not being accepted, and resistance of societal norms just to appease those around them.
As one student fervently stated, “Everyone has an identity and deserves to have that identity to be known and respected.”
Reimagined Privilege Walk and Student-Led Activities
Students led attendees through a series of engaging activities focused on allyship. In the first, participants were given index cards that contained questions about allyship and were asked to partner with someone they didn’t know to discuss them. After some time, attendees switched partners and repeated the process. The purpose of this activity was for participants to understand the concept of allyship and the different ways they could become an ally, especially in the wake of adversity.
Second, attendees participated in a reimagined privilege walk and gathered in the center of the GHS parking lot. As the facilitators read statements, participants walked to one of three areas designated as “agree, disagree or neutral,” based on whether the statement was true for them or not. The statements focused on various aspects of privilege, such as “there is no school on a holiday celebrated within my family.” The goal of this activity was for participants to recognize and develop awareness of their privilege and think about how it affects their lives and the lives of others.
Next, the Black Student Union led an activity where attendees were divided into small groups and given hypothetical scenarios where they had to identify the role of ally, supporter or co-conspirator. This activity helped participants understand the difference between each role and how they could work toward becoming an agent of change.
Presentations were then delivered by March For Our Lives, the Asian Student Union and the Black Student Union and focused on how allyship helps students overcome challenges. Each organization spoke about the difficult realities students currently encounter, such as gun violence and hateful rhetoric, while highlighting recent examples in the media and sharing their personal stories and ideas.
Enacting Change
Throughout the rally, students considered what steps could be taken to enact change. Many stated sincerely listening and forming spaces for inclusive discussions could go miles in making Guilderland a more equitable place. Others empowered the audience to embrace all aspects of their identities, with one student saying “my diversity is my strength.” Students also offered specific examples, including pronouncing names correctly, addressing a student by their preferred pronouns, creating a staff that reflects Guilderland’s diverse student population and providing consent to participate in difficult conversations. As one student said, “no one has to fight this awful fight of hate alone.”
Positive Affirmations
Student facilitators explained that humans have thousands of thoughts per day and a majority of them are negative. To combat this, attendees were invited to cover the sidewalks of GHS with positive affirmations using colorful chalk. Uplifting words and messages such as “it’s okay not to do this alone,” “love yourself,” “you look amazing,” “be the change,” and “you are supported” covered the walkways in front of the high school’s main entrance.
Rising Above and a Pledge of Inclusion
As the rally approached its end, a member of the Black Student Union read Maya Angelou’s poem “And Still I Rise,” reiterating the importance of speaking up and using the power of voice to fight discrimination and bigotry. A moment of silence followed, where student leaders reminded attendees that for every story told, there are countless others that are silenced.
Rally organizers concluded the event by leading the crowd in reciting a pledge of inclusivity: “We the students and staff of Guilderland High School commit to an active and earnest pursuit of anti-racism. We seek to challenge and dismantle racist ideology in our classrooms, school and community at large. We will support the education and advocacy of anti-racist ideology and practice in our classrooms, school and community at large. We are determined to foster and promote a more inclusive school environment where the entire school community feels safe, heard and secure on the basis of race. We hold ourselves and our community accountable to challenging racism.”