This month, Whitman is spreading the word to end the word faster than ever.
The Best Buddies club is asking students to pledge to take the word “retarded” out of their every day vocabulary. The club is also expanding the efforts of previous years to achieve this goal.
In addition to collecting signatures on the pledge poster, the club has coordinated daily morning announcements and a message on Whitman Shorts about ending the usage of word. The club is also selling wristbands and putting up posters around the school and holding a day for students to spread awareness by wearing blue and a Best Buddies talent show fundraiser, both on March 22.
With its skits, bands and dancing, the show will serve as a celebratory end to a successful month of awareness raising.
Many students don’t think of the true meaning of the r-word when they use it in every day conversation, and don’t realize how offensive it is, said senior Molly Houston, president of the Best Buddies club.
“People may use it as slang that doesn’t mean what the literal definition is, but I have personally seen how it holds back people with disabilities in society and how much it can hurt,” she said. “To have something about you be a connotation for stupid and dumb is frankly just mean and unacceptable.”
Last year’s campaign solely consisted of the pledge poster for students to sign. This year’s added events show a new level of support for the cause.
Sophomore Jonathan Chen thinks more attention to the movement is a highly progressive step toward its ultimate goal, he said.
“We blindly use words that hurt people,” he said. “It is important to raise awareness in order to limit the extent of hurtful words in our vocabulary.”
The effort students are making is important for making progress in the pursuit of respect, assistant principal Kathy McHale said.
“The things that the students take on here to promote these kind of things is awesome,” she said. “We’re all a big team here. Nobody is more important than anyone else, and I think people forget that.”
