The HW Parents Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI) Association held their first cinematic group to discuss the fifth episode of Discovery documentary “Why We Hate” on Jan. 9. The documentary’s director, Geeta Gandbhir, history teacher Dror Yaron and DEI Parent co-chairs Stacy Messaye and Gabe Ramirez led the conversation.
“Why We Hate” is a six part documentary series about overcoming human hatred. It first came to the attention of the HW Parents DEI Association when a parent and friend of Gandbhir suggested that other members of the DEI Association watch and discuss an episode. HW Parents’ President Susan Welsh said she remembers how much parents in the association loved the idea and Gandbhir agreed to help facilitate the discussion.
“Her only request was that we do it at four p.m. because she’s on the East Coast,” HW Parents’ President Susan Welsh said. “She didn’t want to start too late. After this, we asked ourselves how to appeal to the greater community. We thought of inviting a teacher who could facilitate discussion about genocide, which is the topic of episode five. On our committee, two of our kids have classes with Mr. Yaron. We reached out to him, and he was thrilled. It was a nice intersection of his interests, what he teaches and the episode.”
Yaron and Gandbhir discussed the origins and consequences of hatred.
Once Yaron and Gandbhir were introduced, they helped create the plan for the meeting. The discussion lasted for an hour and a half and more than 80 attendees including parents, alumni, faculty, teachers and students attended the meeting.
Eve Levy ’22 said her interest in the discussion’s subject and the perspectives of others inspired her to attend the meeting.
“I think it’s really important that everyone can understand the warning flags for something as heinous as genocide or any other crime against humanity,” Levy said. “Especially following what happened at the capitol, we see so much baseless hate. Having this discussion, especially led by someone as knowledgeable as Mr. Yaron was really valuable to me. I just walked away from it feeling grateful that this is something I, along with the rest of the community, could participate in.”
