Motivational speaker and rapper Anthony McLean delivered an anti-bullying presentation Oct. 23 in the auditorium. Before McLean’s Bullying and Inclusivity presentation, freshman Brian Ellis spoke about his experiences with hate at Whitman.

Principal Alan Goodwin organized the presentation to reinforce anti-bullying messages after hearing about Ellis’ experiences facing racial slurs, insults and stereotypes, he said.

“I’ve lived in Wisconsin, where my two sisters and I were the only black kids in our school,” Ellis said in his speech. “I lived in Memphis, Tennessee, where they proudly flew the Confederate flag. And yet, during the first month that I’ve been in this school, I’ve experienced more hate than all the other places that I’ve lived.”

Bullying at Whitman is not limited to just one form, Goodwin said.

“We have a variety of types of bullying at this school,” Goodwin said. “Now there’s becoming more a willingness to share the bullying and we’ve had more hits on our concern form than we’ve had in previous years.”

McLean, a former actor from Canada, uses his love for comedy and rap to speak out against bullying and related issues.

“What inspires me is when I hear stories from students who tell me what they went through, like Brian Ellis, or stories of students who spoke up and did something and made a change,” McLean said in an interview. “My goal [is] to get everyone to understand ‘I am having an impact on my school, what kind of impact am I making.’”

Some students said they are glad these issues are being discussed publicly as they were at the assembly.

“The presentation was effective because it enforced the school’s zero tolerance policy,” freshman Rhea Chawla said. “He spoke in a very funny way, and I feel that to influence our generation you have to do standup comedy or make jokes.”

Other students said, however, that McLean’s presentation lacked effectiveness in comparison to Ellis’ more hard-hitting speech.

“We need more students to speak up about their experience because that impacted me—I felt it,” said senior Saul Singleton. “[McLean’s speech] was more based towards humor rather than being serious about it, which is what more students took away from it. You’re not going to effectively talk about serious issues if you make light of it.”

Ellis is optimistic about the effects of the presentation and the potential for change in bullying culture, he said.

“I see a bright future for Whitman after this,” he said. “My hope and my dream is that we can just all live together not making fun of people’s skin color, people’s sexual identity, I mean anything—that we can just be happy.”