How to stop harassment? Dutchess County students learn tools to be better bystanders
Natalie O'Connor has witnessed harassment.
The Dover High School student knows what it's like to stand by not knowing how to help.
But after attending a bystander intervention training course, she has strategies known as the "5 Ds:" distract, delegate, document, delay or direct interaction.
"There are real steps you can take to stop harassment. I feel that most people are like, I can't be direct about or just say anything, but there are other steps you can take," O'Connor said.
She was surprised to learn that while a majority of people believe intervention can improve a situation, only about 25% will actually step in and help.
Poughkeepsie: A community fridge for Poughkeepsie started by students: How it works, how to donate
O'Connor, along with more than a hundred students from the Dover, Millbrook, Red Hook, Rhinebeck, Spackenkill and Wappingers districts, attended the Pathways to Civic Engagement: Small Places Close to Home forum on Tuesday. The event was held at the Franklin D. Roosevelt Presidential Library and Museum in Hyde Park and centered around the 1948 Universal Declaration of Human Rights.
The 5 Ds taught in the program include:
Distract, to ignore the harasser and talk directly to the person being harassed or to do something to take attention away from the person being harassed;
Delegate, to find someone else to help;
Document, record the incident, but give the recording to the person being harassed so they can decide if they want it shared;
Delay, to provide the person being harassed with support after the incident is over;
Direct interaction is to call out the inappropriate behavior.
Organizers of the event and presenters included Dutchess County Commission on Human Rights, BOCES Center for Educational Equity & Social Justice, Franklin D. Roosevelt Presidential Library and Museum, Right to Be____ and 3GNY Descendants of Holocaust Survivors.
"We can use the big words of equity and inclusion and all the rest of these things, right, but it really comes down to one simple word which is 'kindness,'" said Jeffrey Urbin, education director at the Library and Museum. "That's all human rights is all about. Rather than me shout you down and call you out, how about I lift you up and I call you in?"
It was the first time Dutchess BOCES provided training for students on bystander intervention and on a scale in which several districts participated. Not all districts were able to participate due to timing issues. Some of the districts have taught bystander training in the schools. The Dutchess County is also offering bystander training for adults virtually, with three sessions in the next two weeks; email DCHumanRights@DutchessNY.gov for details.
National headlines regarding antisemitism helped spur the training and, on a smaller scale, students are exposed to hate speech within their schools. Dutchess BOCES hopes to "broaden the conversation" beyond these topics in the future, said Jenny Schinella, Dutchess BOCES director of educational resources.
Students participated in three workshops: bystander intervention, transformative dialogue project and standing up to antisemitism and hate. The organizers selected antisemitism as a focus, and not a broader concept, such as institutional racism, because its relevance to the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.
But, for O'Connor, the session on bystander intervention taught her how to handle herself in a situation such as when she sees a meme online that may have offended someone, but those who call it out are told they are being too sensitive or its a joke. She knows should could directly engage, but she could also just speak directly to the person offended and offer them her support.
"People think they know (what to do), they're like 'Obviously I would help,' but when it comes to it in reality they don't. Having this discussion and being taught about it helps you to understand it more," she said.
Saba Ali: Sali1@poughkeepsiejournal.com: 845-451-4518:@MsSabaAli.
This article originally appeared on Poughkeepsie Journal: Dutchess bystander training gives students harassment tools
