November 16, 2012

In early November, MPAC joined other community leaders for the City of Los Angeles Human Relations Commission (City HRC) anti-bullying forum.

SEE: Full Video of the LA HRC anti-Bullying Forum (LAcity.com)

The forum consisted of individual presentations by a panel of youth as well as an open forum for comments and discussion. The panel featured Wasi Momin and Waffa Abuhajer, members of the Islamic Center of Southern California's Muslim Youth Group, alongside three other youth:

• Sarah Hartmann, Downtown Magnets High School
• Kaysy Bonilla, Hollywood High School
• Harpreet Singh, Graduate of Van Nuys High School

In his testimony, Wasi spoke of the need to educate the educators about Islamophobia and the myths about Muslims.

He also mentioned that were it not for the strong support system he had in the form of his youth group, that he would not havebeen equipped to cope with bullies as well as he has been able to. Waffa Abuhajer spoke during the comment portion, offering a perspective of anti-Muslim bullying and Islamophobia.

The City HRC and the LAUSD Human Relations, Diversity and Equity office convened an Anti-Bullying Coalition (ABC) in 2011 to address issues relating to bullying. ABC is composed of stakeholders who work to address bullying and bias in the community and on school campuses. It seeks to harness existing efforts to promote a collaborative approach that endorses positive school engagement.

The Purpose of the ABC is to:

1. Join efforts between community stakeholders and government institutions to further strengthen anti-bullying efforts.
2. Streamline information and provide guided resources for schools, policy makers and  communities.
3. Generate specific policy recommendations and best practices to build safe and affirming schools and communities.