Sharing History

The Anti-Defamation League's Dream Dialogue
made a D. C. day trip an important learning experience.

LONNY GOLDSMITH

StafrWriter

T

hree years ago,
Birmingham attorney
Michael Serling began
Dream Dialogue as a con-
tinuation of the relationship between
Jewish and African-American teens
that started when Ethiopian-Israeli
teens visited Detroit.
This past Monday, Serling led 25
members of the Anti-Defamation
League-sponsored group and four
other facilitators on a one-day, whirl-
wind tour of Washington, D.C., the
first field trip the group has taken.
The Jewish, African-American and
Hispanic students saw the National
Holocaust Museum and the "Field to
Factory" exhibit at the National
Museum of American History, and met
with Michigan Sen. Carl Levin for a
40-minute question-and-answer session.

Breaking Down
The Barriers

Multi-racial group
learns to see each other
as people.

Ste hanie Citron, Kelly Slay and Quinn Wright watch Michael Serling explain
in ormation at the Holocaust Museum.

among people," said Maria
Mendoza. "We know race exists, but
we use it to our benefit and it makes
us more tolerant. When issues arise,
I look at the person, not the group
as a whole."
Said Bennie Patmon, "I've learned
a lot of stereotypes aren't true. I

think we forgot about race and went
to have fun and learn."
On the trip, 10 students were
Jewish, 14 African-American and
one Hispanic. The students came
from 12 different schools: Akiva,
Detroit Northern, Ferndale, West
Bloomfield, Bloomfield Hills Roeper,

LONNY GOLDSMITH

Staff Writer

F

or three years, the Anti-
Defamation League's
Dream Dialogue program
has been bringing togeth-
er Jewish and African-American
teenagers to learn about working
together against racism.
If the reactions from the 25 high
school students who went on the
May 11 trip to Washington, D.C.,
are any indication, the program is
clearly a success.
"I don't think we look at races

The ADL Dream Dialogue group in Washington, D.C.

"Having a trip like this takes the
program to another level," Serling
said.
Since Dream Dialogue began, par-
ticipants have done the Ropes Course
at Camp Mass, community service
work at rescue missions, and have
taken field trips to Detroit's Museum
of African American History and
West Bloomfield's Holocaust
Memorial Center. Speakers also have
come to talk about fighting prejudice.
Birmingham Groves High School
student Tali Zechory had been to the
Holocaust museum once before, but
saw more this time through.
"I noticed a lot more this time and
I understand things more," she said.
Kelly Slay, an African-American stu-
dent from Ferndale High School cried
at points in the museum. "I was numb
at times," she said after watching a
video of Jews digging their own graves.
"Seeing them and knowing they were

Farmington Hills Mercy, North
Farmington, Waterford Mott,
Southfield-Lathrup, Bloomfield Hills
Granbrook, Berkley and
Birmingham Groves.
"Each experience builds for the
next," said program coordinator
Michael Serling. "We are planning a
trip to Israel for next year. Quinn
Wright (a student from Ferndale)
has been asking me when that was
going to happen."
Said Groves student Tali Zechory,
"Being in this group made me take a
hard look at myself. Most of my
friends are Jewish, and this opened
my eyes and exposed me to other
groups."
Akiva student Georgie Kleiman
and West Bloomfield's Shira Traison
noted that members of the group
hung out with people they already
knew.
But, "I don't think the student's
skin color mattered," Traison said.
"People spent time with who they
knew on the trip." ❑