July 23, 2012

Last week, Aziza Hasan, MPAC’s Southern California Government Relations Director, led a Truth Over Fear Workshop for more than 40 youth, training them to be impartial jurors for the L.A. uperior Court’s Stopping Hate and Delinquency by Empowering Students (SHADES) program.

The SHADES program serves as an intervention for students who have perpetrated incidents of hate/bias and bullying among youth.

“SHADES is an innovative program that will help individuals face the bias within themselves and in so doing, heal wrongs that are done within the community,” Hasan said.

Hasan helped jurors gain a more clear understanding of American Muslims by addressing the misconceptions and mistruths used to justify biases against them. She walked the jurors through the responsibilities they will face and how they can collectively work on alternative sentencing to help defendants understand the ramifications of their actions and contribute to the greater healing of the community.

Through programs such as Truth Over Fear, MPAC strives to serve as a resource to government and communities. For more information on how to bring a Truth Over Fear workshop to your community, email Edina Lekovic, MPAC’s Director of Policy & Programming, at edina@mpac.org.

-- Hannah Stewart
hannah@mpac.org
Media & Communications Intern