Human Rights Club hosts ‘Community Day’ and receives large turnout
Senior Alia Attar, President of Human Rights Club, addresses the event’s attendees
After their Homecoming mural was erased for the second straight year, the Human Rights Club held a ‘Community Day’ last Saturday to celebrate some of the causes championed by the club.
President and senior Alia Attar opened the event with a speech alongside Vice President Sophia Zar.
“It is our hope that Community Day serves as a way for our community to debrief the events of the mural erasure, but also recognize the way we can move forward. Despite the events that have unfolded in the past few weeks, we’re excited that many of you are here in support of our club and committed to social justice,” Attar said.
The event, hosted in the cafeteria, featured “organizations to support, books to read, pledges to make, and posters to paint,” as Zar said. It also included bracelet- and paper-chain-making, a “Your Voice Matters” box for community input, music, and food (including coffee donated by Egg Harbor, who was involved in last year’s mural erasure).
“There’s been such a huge outpouring of support, and sometimes that’s missed when you’re caught in the middle of yet another censorship,” said Human Rights Club sponsor and social studies teacher Ms. Kelly McKee.
About 50 LFHS students and community members, both children and adults, were in attendance.
“One thing I thought was amazing is that we had little kids and grandparents – the whole gamut,” McKee said.
One of the younger children at the event was Sheridan Elementary student Appolonia Jacobs, who made a large chalk drawing on her sidewalk with her brother Porter after the second mural was erased. Now, she’s looking to start her own Human Rights Club.
“I’m really interested in being inclusive with everybody,” she said. “I’d like to invite authors to come to our school and do a project with that.”
For Lake Bluff Middle School student Claire Keiser, being at the event showed “how the community has started to help people that are different feel more included.”
There was widespread support for the club on social media, with around nine local businesses offering their storefronts for the club to paint. Instead, after security concerns, attendees created posters to hang in the businesses.
“I think it’s great that the club turned something negative into something so positive,” said senior Angela Karr.
Other businesses showed their support even if they didn’t have a storefront. One attendee, Erin Perry, offered to produce some signs for the club with Perry and her husband’s sign company.
“I think the day is exactly as it was intended to be,” said Activities Director Ms. Ashleigh Malec. “It was meant to bring people together to talk about the mission, but also to show that there are people in the community that support these students.”
“One of the messages that kept coming up [in the ‘Your Voice Matters’ box] was, ‘How do we promote a more tolerant community? How do we embrace these differences and not try and push them away?’ Many people said that having an event like Community Day is a step in the right direction, and a place to talk about these difficult issues.”
“It gives you some hope,” English teacher and Alliance club sponsor Mr. John Wanninger said with a laugh.
Attar and Zar spoke at Monday’s City Council meeting during the public comment portion regarding the club, its murals and erasures, and Community Day. After they spoke, Mayor George Pandaleon stated that, while the city is unaffiliated with the Homecoming murals, “I am very disappointed that a very small number of very vocal people have made such an issue of this. It’s distressing. Lake Forest works very hard to be as welcoming and inclusive as it can be.”
The Human Rights Club will host their second-annual Day of Compassion on Nov. 10.
“I’m crazy-proud of our kids,” said School Board member and Lake Bluff resident Sally Davis. “I’m crazy-proud of the club, that they’re living their values, and they’re doing this very beautiful and inclusive event.”
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