Last Friday, WHS held a school-wide activity period sponsored by the No Place for Hate Committee. The goal of the period was to educate the student body on how to fight hate, specifically antisemitism and racism, and give students the opportunity to sign the No Place for Hate pledge. The agenda for the period included the viewing of the powerful documentary, Repairing the World: Stories from the Tree of Life, followed by a discussion regarding the topics and events covered in the documentary, followed by the signing of the pledge.

The documentary is centered around the 2018 Pittsburgh Tree of Life Synagogue shooting, in which a white supremacist gunman killed 11 worshipers on a Saturday morning in October. It displayed the devastating impact this act of hatred had on not only the Jewish community in Pittsburgh, but the entire city of Pittsburgh and beyond. The documentary showed people from different backgrounds and communities united under these circumstances, and instead of fighting hate with more hate, the people of Pittsburgh took their grief and did something positive with it.

There were moments of silence for the victims at Steelers, Penguins and high school basketball games, speeches given about fighting hate by magnitudes of people including professional athletes, and support groups to talk about the events that transpired for people who knew the victims.

Pittsburgh did not allow the shooting to devastate their community, and instead the city was brought closer together to remember the victims and educate people on how to combat antisemitism and other acts of hate.

The message of the documentary coincides with the goals of NPFH, a program that strives to show students how to combat acts of hate with love. Another enduring message is that it is completely okay to be vulnerable and speak out about how something might have affected you. “[NPFH] wants to highlight how our community can spread awareness and acceptance, especially during a time of crisis,” said NPFH member Madan Patel.

Following the documentary there was a brief period discussion period with a series of questions. The questions were created by the non-profit organization Facing History and Ourselves. The goal of this discussion period was to allow students to reflect on what they just watched, talk about how the documentary made them feel and share their experiences when it comes to combating hate.

After that, students were given an opportunity to sign the pledge. The pledge comes from the Anti-Defamation League, a group that has been fighting antisemitism for over 100 years. “One of the goals of the activity period was to allow students an opportunity to reflect on what the pledge means, consider why it is important and, we hope, make a conscious decision to sign the pledge and personally commit to making WHS a more inclusive community,” said NPFH Coordinator and Social Studies Teacher Kim Leegan.