Change begins with a single person.
This Friday, that person will be Alex Nelson, an 18-year-old independent studies student and volunteer with Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC), an Alabama-based organization working to teach tolerance.
Nelson is coordinating Mix It Up At Lunch, a nationwide SPLC initiative that aims to break down social barriers on school campuses, at Redondo Union High School this Friday.
Nelson will be randomly distributing colors at the door to the school’s Student Union; each will denote a student’s assigned seat for the lunchtime period. The idea is for students to socialize with people outside their social circle. SPLC believes “divisions are most clearly drawn in the cafeteria” and so targets the cafeteria as the focus of the event.
Nelson, who attended Redondo Union briefly and is now on track to becoming a civil rights lawyer, said her goal is to “break down cliques” and “get people involved in each other’s lives.”
“In our school there is a problem with bullying and tension among people,” she said. “I want everybody to have a cohesive relationship with everybody else. It’s my dream – it’s my biggest dream – to fight for justice and against the hate that terrorizes our society.”
Nelson has been planning Mix It Up At Lunch for nearly two years, and went before the School Board in October seeking approval for her proposal.
