Prejudice: Face On

Three hundred teenagers from across all thirteen local secondary school spoke out against sectarianism, racism and homophobia at Derry City Council’s annual ‘Prejudice: Face On!’ event which took place in the City Hotel. The ‘Prejudice: Face On!’ initiative, organised by Derry City Council’s Community Relations Officers, is part of the delivery of council’s Good Relations Strategy. It works with schools and Year 10 pupils to tackle issues around hate including sectarianism, racism, and homophobia and to encourage young people to respect diversity.

The Finale Event was the culmination of pupil’s participation in a series of six workshops, delivered free to schools by trained facilitators. Face to face sessions were facilitated in which pupils got the chance to meet representatives from different communities to face and challenge stereotypes. This year a wide spectrum of people from the community and voluntary sector got involved including the Apprentice Boys of Derry Association, the Rainbow Project, migrant workers, organizations representing Black and Minority Ethnic groups, the GAA, Irish Language representatives, interface community workers, former political prisoners and local church leaders.

The Mayor, Alderman Maurice Devenney, who awarded certificates to pupils at the ceremony, described the initiative as extremely worthwhile. “It clearly has a positive impact on the attitudes and actions of the local youth who took part. Teenagers can be positive influencers in their local communities and social circles so it is great to see youth engaging actively as positive citizens. It gives me great pleasure to recognise the achievement and dedication of these pupils in this initiative, which is one of the largest annual initiatives organised by Derry City Council in association with secondary schools.”

Sue Divin, Community Relations Officer at Derry City Council said “This year again I am delighted with the positive feedback and enthusiasm from both the pupils and schools as well the high participation levels from all involved. In total over three hundred Year 10 pupils attended the event, all were given the opportunity to present their work to their peers, and the event was a wonderful celebration of their achievement and learning.”

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