PSUSD hosts Diversity and Racial Equity Conference

Palm Springs Unified School District welcomed students, staff, and community members to come together and talk about inclusion at its Diversity and Racial Equity conference. 

Ozyas Crawford is a sophomore at Desert Hot Springs High School and attended the conference.

"When people don't talk about our lives like this is where we talk about our race and how much like how important it is," said Crawford.

He was joined by Abel Flores, a senior at Rancho Mirage High School.

"There's just a lot of different cultures and like how they're all going through their own problems and how we're pretty much all the same, but just different races, different coaches go into the same thing," said Flores.

The conference included different panels with varying topics like native american visibility and creating safe and inclusive schools for lgbtq+ students. 

"I feel like it's important to be here because it shows how much we care about it and how much like we strive for it to be known," said Crawford.

About 450 people experienced the conference. The district coordinator of diversity and racial equity, Dr. Nicole Crawford, helped organize the event.

"We are exploring the exclusionary-ism. So racism, sexism, tokenism, colorism and heterosexism," said Nicole. "I think that minds are definitely changing. Hearts are growing, I think understanding as well as growing."

She said they plan to host an annual conference with the goal for everyone to be a part of a learning experience together and expand their perspective.

"So we are just hoping like just spreading awareness, spreading unity, and having everyone's voices be heard," said Nicole.