Pride and Prejudices: Sarah DiMagno at TEDxYouth@Lincoln

Sarah DiMagno is a senior at Lincoln High School and a member of the International Baccalaureate program. As a Lincoln-Douglas debater, cellist, and active participant in Nebraska politics, she speaks to us about the effect tragic events have on children. She discusses why they can be harmful, and how those effects can be lessened, drawing from her personal experience as a five-year-old on September 11th, 2001. Sarah feels that this topic is especially important in the wake of recent tragedies and as media becomes more accessible to young children.

I started kindergarten
at the end of August, in 2001.

(Laughter)

I was five years old,
my favorite color was red,

and my homeroom teacher was Mrs. Dotter.

So, aside from the really
unfortunate haircut,

I think you can say
I was a pretty normal little kid.

But on September 11th, 2001,

two planes were hijacked

and crashed into
the World Trade Center in New York.

Today, we all know this event as 9/11,

but for me, it was a frightening
and early disillusionment.

Watching the towers fall
was terrifying to a five-year-old,

even though I didn't fully
understand what it meant

or what the implications
would be for my country.

As I grew up,
I was never taught what the US

could possibly have done
to make people so angry

they'd be willing to die
in order to exact revenge.

Questioning the motives of the attackers

was seen as lending legitimacy
to their actions.

And, like so many in my age group,

I came to believe that 9/11
was carried out by bad guys,

whose religion and culture
were just inherently evil.

And this viewpoint shaped
my outlook on the world

until almost ten years later.

We know that fear
is a very strong motivator

for human beings,

and young children's early experiences

often have a great effect
on their viewpoints as adults,

even if they're not
consciously aware of it.

These two factors come together
to form a dangerous combination,

when we talk about
tragic events like this.

Fear can create prejudices
and misunderstandings,

and since they're acquired so young,
it's hard to change them

or even become consciously aware
that they exist.

They seem intuitive.

But these prejudices
are incredibly harmful.

Lack of understanding
of 9/11, for example,

has led to a widespread fear
of Islam in the US.

This is partially due to the fact

that those who couldn't understand
the attacks when they happened,

like kids, emerged with a garbled view,

since it hadn't been properly
explained to them.

These kids are now seventeen,
eighteen, nineteen-year-olds

and their attitudes may not
seem globally significant.

But kids grow up. I'm going to grow up.

And, eventually, we'll take over
important positions

in society and government.

So, it doesn't seem important
when college kids

have misunderstandings and prejudices,

but what about when senators do?

And if we only realize it then,

will it be too late to change?

So, these responses to tragedy
need to start immediately.

Kids need to know
what has happened and why,

even if it's disillusioning.

Otherwise, they may fall prey
to fear-mongering

in the media and political world.

Unlike most adults,

kids don't have the filters to understand

why these attitudes are biased.

And attitudes like this
have been on full display in the media,

in almost every recent tragedy,

including the Boston Marathon bombing
just this April.

Several news media outlets
reported, at first,

that a Saudi national had been detained

and was being questioned.

This was never true,

but what kind of message
does that send to someone

who doesn't understand
sensationalism in the media,

like a young child?

It tells them that anyone
who looks different

or is from a different country

is immediately a suspect,

and this is just wrong.

But, unfortunately, in the US today,

many have fallen prey to these prejudices.

Islamophobia has sparked
dozens of attacks

on Muslims and others
from the Middle East

in the last twelve years.

Vandalization of mosques
and the bullying of Muslim children

have become almost commonplace.

The normalization
of this kind of harassment

is one of the most
shocking results of fear.

But we would be foolish to think

that prejudices only harm those
that they're directed towards.

Everyday we hurt the potential
of kids and young adults

when we don't arm them
with the information that they need

to make decisions free from prejudice.

We fail them when they have
misunderstandings about other cultures

because they weren't educated about them.

Because every kid and young adult

has the potential to be brilliant
and to change the world.

But we have to examine
the way we look at the world,

because that affects how we'll change it.

If our viewpoints are prejudiced
or harmful to others,

we need to question them and adjust them,

in order to truly unleash our brilliance.

On May 1st, 2011,

my sister burst into my room,
at about 11 p.m.,

looked straight at me
and simply said, "They got him."

Hearing about the Osama bin Laden raid

brought back memories
that I hadn't thought about for years.

I remembered what I had felt

and what I'd thought about the attacks.

Recalling these memories
made me reconsider

what I'd thought
and the things that I did,

and once I realized that my viewpoint

was based more off of fear than facts,

I felt compelled to educate myself

and change my perspective on 9/11
and then on the world.

But this shouldn't
have taken me ten years!

There are a lot of things
that I wish I would have known better

when I was five.

So, if I could send back
two pieces of advice

to little five-year-old me,
in September 2001,

the first would be this,

"You should really grow out your hair...

(Laughter)

because this short hair
just doesn't work."

But the second
and far less trivial piece of advice

would be this,

"Look for reasons,
not just reactions, behind conflicts,

because you'll always come back
with a more complete picture

than if you just take things
at face value.

You'll be able to form conclusions

that more accurately reflect reality

and take actions
according to those conclusions."

If kids can internalize this,

and if all of us can internalize this,

we'll be able to weather any tragedy,

without forgetting
the equal value of all human life,

regardless of religion, race or culture.

And hopefully,

or as my inner idealistic five-year-old
would like to think,

this kind of respect for one another

will lead to a world
where we don't have to talk about

how to help kids deal
with tragedies of this scale.

(Applause) (Cheers)