►
Description
From Peace Talks:
This episode focuses on how we can change our approach towards acculturation from an “assimilation” based system to an “integration” based system that respects the cultural heritage and dignity of immigrants entering the United States. We meet with Tamara Parks, who has been a teacher and principal for nearly a decade, and is currently serving as the Director of the Multilingual program through the Essex Westford School District (EWSD). We will be exploring Tamara’s journey as a first generation immigrant to the United States, herself, and how that experience has informed her work in the public education system. We will be discussing a range of peacebuilding topics, such as postcolonialism, multiculturalism, and building peace through inclusive practices that promote equity and understanding across cultures and communities.
Show Guest: Tamara Parks — Educator, Advocate, and Director of the Multilingual Program at the Essex Westford School District
3/17/2023
https://linktr.ee/townmeetingtv
Town Meeting TV is a free speech forum and the ideas expressed do not necessarily reflect the views of the Town Meeting TV trustees and staff. If you have a different perspective to share, we invite you to join the conversation! Create your own program or cover a community meeting or event. Contact maketv@cctv.org or call 862-3966.
Thank you for tuning into Town Meeting TV! Please subscribe to our YouTube channel and visit our website for more videos and information about how we open the doors to local government using community media. www.Ch17.TV
This video belongs to http://www.cctv.org and published with permission under Creative Commons License CCTV Center for Media & Democracy Programming is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.
A
Too
often
the
media
focuses
exclusively
on
the
violent
and
tumultuous
crises
occurring
daily
around
the
world
and
with
click
bait,
exploiting
negative
social
events
for
the
sake
of
increased
ratings
in
Revenue.
There
are
few
incentives
for
media
Outlets
to
focus
on
the
good
that
is
happening
in
the
world
every
day.
Even
media
channels
dedicated
to
peace,
building
and
sustainable
development
remain
focused
on
the
ills
of
corruption,
war
and
conflict,
rather
than
the
efforts
of
Peace
Builders
within
those
conflicts.
A
But
peace
talks
too,
and
with
this
show,
the
voice
of
Peace
will
be
Amplified.
Mr
Rogers
is
often
quoted
in
saying
that,
when
crisis
strikes
look
for
the
helpers,
this
show
intends
to
do
just
that
every
day,
right
here
in
Vermont,
there
are
thousands
of
engaged
citizens
actively
building
peace
and
we
plan
to
amplify
their
efforts
and
and
we
seek
to
develop
a
platform
where
peace
Builders
all
over
the
state
and
the
U.S
at
large
can
connect
with
each
other
across
social
boundaries
and
Industry
sectors
to
collaborate
for
the
benefit
of
our
Collective
community.
A
Ladies
and
gentlemen,
this
is
peace
talks
and
today
we
are
meeting
with
Tamara
Parks.
She
is
an
educator,
an
advocate
for
new
Americans
and
the
director
of
the
multilingual
program
through
the
Essex
Westford
School
District
pleasure,
to
have
you
on
the
show
today
tomorrow.
I
am
delighted
to
be
able
to
talk
with
you
about
this
subject,
yeah.
So,
let's
just
kick
it
right
off.
Tell
us
about
yourself.
What
are
you
doing
right
now.
B
A
B
A
B
The
memories
I
have:
are
they
they're,
pretty
powerful
memories?
Okay,
one
of
them
is
in
the
morning
my
parents
would
have
to
take
me
to
school
on
skis
and
I.
Just
remember
having
conversations
with
my
grandmother
who
had
to
I,
don't
want
to
say,
kidnap,
she
had
to
take
me
to
get
me
baptized
there's.
You
know
a
lot
take.
A
A
B
So
that
was
something
really
important
to
her
and
so
I
just
remember.
You
know
that
relationship
with
my
grandmother
and
I,
also
on
the
way
over
here.
I
was
just
remembering
a
time
where
you
know
I
was
speaking
with
her
in
Russian
and
I
was
upset
with
her,
because
she
wanted
me
to
wink
my
eye
and
I.
Couldn't
do
it
with
both
eyes
and
we
had
this
whole
conversation
with
each
other
about
you
know,
winking,
and
how
to
wink
and
very
special
relationship.
Wow.
A
B
A
B
A
A
A
B
A
A
B
Addition
to
being
a
historian
and
one
of
my
memories
as
a
child
is
watching
him
on
TV
and
he
was
in
a
burning
Hotel
during
a
coup,
and
he
would
you
know
he.
My
question
as
a
child
to
him
was
like:
what's
it
like
to
be
on
TV
and
he
was
like,
the
lights
are
really
bright,
but
he
he
did
some
work
there,
too
kind
of
just
as
an
expert
reporting
out
and.
A
A
A
How
was
that
for
you,
you
know
your
your
Early
Childhood
years
in
the
kind
of
collapsing
Soviet
Union,
obviously
tied
to
like
deep
historical
and
political
Roots
because
of
your
parents
background
and
now
you're
in
this
conservative
School
in
Baltimore
having
to
stand
in
front
of
an
American
flag
for
your
picture.
Like
can,
can
you
like
what
was
the
experience?
What
was
that
experience
like?
Oh.
B
B
B
B
A
B
A
B
A
B
A
Yeah
so,
like
there's,
there's
this
book
that
you
and
I
have
talked
about
a
little
bit.
This
is
actually
something
that
I
was
made
aware
of
by
my
wife.
It's
called
a
third
culture,
kids
growing
up
among
worlds,
I
Were
you
able
to
look
into
that
at
all
or,
like
I,
know
the
title
kind
of
speaks
for
itself.
A
A
B
Think
having
a
home
language
different
in
English
is
an
amazing
experience
to
have
you
know
my
parents
trying
to
talk
about
things
that
they
think
that
we
don't
understand
and
using
big
words
and
and
that
language
and
actually
being
able
to
understand.
But
just
having
that
uniqueness
is,
is
a
big.
It's
a
wonderful
thing.
It
also
creates
a
lot
of
unique
situations,
and
so
the
feeling
of
not
really
ever
fitting
in
anywhere.
B
A
Yeah
this
idea
of
it
being
a
gift.
That's
that
feels
like
a
very
matured
perspective
that
feels
like
something
that
you
grew
into
like
I
I.
Imagine
you
know
the
this
story.
You
share
of
the
Pledge
of
Allegiance
and
trying
to
trying
to
you
know
fit
in
having
your
parents
speak
a
different
language
at
home.
A
You
don't
have
a
Russian
accent,
so
you've
clearly
been
able
to
to
learn
English
at
a
young
enough,
Age
and
and
get
involved
in
that
way
like
can
you
speak
to
what
that
was
like
trying
to
fit
in,
as
you
were
growing
up
like
how
did
that
mature
into
this
space
where
you're
like
this
is
actually
a
gift?
This
is
actually
something
that
can
can
serve
me
in
in
my
world.
Oh.
B
A
A
B
A
A
A
That
so
this,
this
kind
of
touches
on
a
point
that
I
think
you
and
I
have
spent
a
lot
of
time
exploring
about.
You
know:
assimilation
versus
integration.
You
know
when,
when
immigrants
and
when
when
new
Americans
are
are
coming
to
this
country
and
and
they
have
to
figure
out
how
to
be
a
part
of
our
community,
you
know
I
think
the
the
conventional
methods
that
the
historical
or
traditional
methods
are
kind
of
captured
in
this
name
change
right.
It's
that's
a
process
of
assimilation.
B
A
A
that's
and
that
that
that
kind
of
imposes
on
you
this
this.
This
need
to
hide
those
parts
of
yourself
that
don't
fit
the
the
culture
in
the
community
you're
a
part
of
yeah
like
how?
How
do
you?
How
did
you
grapple
with
that
growing
up,
and
how
do
you
feel
about
it
now,
like
this
idea
of
assimilation.
A
B
A
B
And
we
had
students
who
spoke
indigenous
languages
and
the
teachers
were
just
you
know,
working
to
promote
how
wonderful
that
is
in
the
school,
and
so
it
was
moving
to
New,
York,
City
and
living
there
for
16
years.
That
really
helped
me
understand.
You
know
I.
Think
New,
York
City
opened
her
arms
to
me
and
don't
want
to
get
emotional
but
well.
A
That
must
have
been
such
a
validating
experience.
You
know
given,
given
the
experience
you
had
originally
coming
to
this
country
and
having
to
feel
like
you
have
to
hide
parts
of
yourself
and
then
entering
this
space,
where
you're
just
inundated
by
cultural
diversity
and
and
embrace
of
those
differences,
in
fact
a
celebration
of
those
differences
that
must
have
been
such
a
validating
experience
for
you.
How
did
that?
How
did
that
change?
Your
perspective
on
the
world
is
that
is
that
I
have
too
many
questions.
B
Oh
I
mean
I,
don't
know,
I
I
actually
don't
know
the
answer.
I
would
I
will
say
that
I
still
feel
very
connected
to
that
the
students
and
the
teachers
in
the
community
and
I
also,
am
you
know,
developing
connections
with
families
here
also
so,
for
me,
I
am
just
learning
that
the
power
of
being
in
this
Collective
space
with
others
who
are
just
bringing
all
their
everything
about
them.
That's
unique
and
wonderful,
and
it's
just
where
I
like
to
be
yeah.
A
B
A
Well,
you
know
something
that
I'm
thinking
about
as
you're
talking
on
this
is
like
you,
the
American
dream.
You
know
like
this.
This
idea
of
the
American
dream
I
think
it
has
a
bit
of
a
salty
taste
for
a
lot
of
people
right
now,
this
this
concept
of
you
know
you
know
you
come
to
America.
We
can.
You
can
change
your
stars.
You
know
it's!
A
B
A
B
So
you
know,
for
example,
I'm
white
and
my
family's
white,
and
so
that
probably
definitely
resulted
in
privilege
that
allowed
us
to
more
easily
access
things.
That
would
help
us
be
successful
and
we
also
the
you
know
in
terms
of
immigration
status
that
can
also
create
a
lot
of
barriers
in
terms
of
accessing
support.
So
yeah
I
mean
I
think
it
really
depends
a
lot.
The
American
dream
is
not
as
available
to
all
it's.
A
Not
as
available
to
all
yeah
and
these
barriers,
I'm
kind
of
just
stewing
on
that
in
my
head,
you
know-
and
it
it
ties
into
this-
this
dichotomy
that
we're
talking
about
a
simulation
versus
culturation.
It
sounds
like
a
lot
of
those
barriers
are
tied
to
this
notion
of
assimilation
like
how
well
you
can
fit
in
to
the
to
the
dominant
culture
right.
A
You
know
it's
it.
It's
it's
a
tough
thing
to
swallow.
I
think
you
know
if,
if
we
think
about
the
American
dream
in
its
ideal
State
this,
this
idea
that
you
know
anyone
can
come
here
and
we
can
all
you
know,
participate
together
through
some
through
the
Democratic
process
and
and
through
the
opportunities
that
America
purportedly
provides.
But
you
know
I
I,
don't
I,
don't
feel
like
what
you're
saying
I
don't
feel
like
that
fits
in
with
this
notion
of
assimilation.
B
A
B
Believe
it's
a
better
goal
to
integrate,
rather
than
assimilate,
because
with
assimilation
you
would
lose
things
that
are
not
only
important
to
you
and
your
family
and
helping
you
feel
connected
to
your
roots,
but
also
those
things
are
really
valuable
to
the
incoming
the
incoming
place.
Where
you're,
where
you're.
B
A
Yeah,
no,
that
that
you
know
the
concept
of
innovation
is.
This
is
a
bit
of
a
departure,
but
I
I
I
feel
compelled
to
kind
of
share
a
little
bit
about.
Like
you
know,
when
we
talk
about
innovation
in
a
business
sense,
one
of
the
primary
ingredients
for
Innovation
to
occur
is
is
a
diversity
of
perspectives,
A
diversity
of
thinking,
A,
diversity
of
knowledge
bases,
you
know,
and
if,
if
we've
been
driving
towards
assimilation
towards
you
know
a
mono
culture
or
a
mono
experience,
this
singular
way
of
doing
things.
A
That
seems
to
be
counterproductive
to
you
know:
American
Business-
and
you
know
these
things
like
how
do
these
both
both
of
these
values
are
are
being
coupled
together,
that
are
a
paradox:
it's
they're,
they're
in
fact
working
against
each
other,
but
like
when,
when
we
talk
about
integration,
when
we
talk
about
an
acceptance
of
that
diversity,
when
we
welcome
it
into
our
communities,
we
benefit
right
and
how
did
the?
How
did
the
community
in
New
York
benefit?
What
were
some
of
the
benefits
you
saw.
B
B
A
B
B
A
B
It
made
me
question
whether
how
I
was
doing
things
was
actually
the
best
way.
Maybe
I
didn't
need
to
be
so
you
know
synchronous
with
time.
Maybe
it
was
more
important
to
focus
on
relationships,
and
so
there's
so
just
different
ways
of
looking
at
things.
If
you
can
I
think
the
most
important
thing
is
to
be
open
to
those
different
ways,
instead
of
being
upset
that
parents
will
come
later.
A
Yeah
as
a
cultural
value,
as
you
know,
that's
a
norm
that
has
been
kind
of
ingrained
into
us
as
As
Americans
and
to
you
know
it's
it's,
it
is
etiquette
it
it.
You
know
you're
being
polite
and
you're
being
respectful
by
showing
up
on
time.
You
know
respecting
the
other
person's
time,
but
what
you're
talking
about
in
terms
of
like
relationships?
A
A
So,
let's,
let's
kind
of
shift
I,
think
we've
really
laid
the
groundwork
here
and
established
like
this.
This
framework,
this
perspective
that
you're
bringing
to
the
world
right.
What
are
you
doing
in
the
community
right
now
like
in
your
role
as
a
multilingual?
As
the
you
know,
director
of
multilingual
program
in
Essex,
Westford,
School
District?
How
do
you,
how
do
you
bring
this
experience
this
and
this
Rich
perspective
into
this
work
right
now?
What
does
that
look
like.
B
So
I
will
say
that
I'm,
relatively
I'm,
actually
quite
new
to
my
role
here.
I
started
last
year
in
the
in
the
role
as
a
district
coordinator
of
multilingual
programs
in
Essex
Westford
and
if
a
lot
of
my
time
has
been
spent
on
kind
of
solidifying
infrastructure
and
just
making
sure
that
you
know
our
interpreters
and
translators
and
multilingual
Liaisons
have
what
they
need
and
El
teachers
have
what
they
need.
B
A
B
So,
just
through
a
big
party
and
a
big
potluck
and
invited
every
single
parent
who
was
interested
in
joining
our
multilingual
potluck
and
we
ended
up
with
a
pretty
nice
sized
group
and
then
from
there
I
think
it's
really
important
to
not
just
stay
in
that
space
of
you
know
celebrating
diversity
we
want
to
like
continuously
build
community
and
continuously
have
opportunities
to
get
to
know
each
other,
but
also
to
create
some
structures
for
parents
to
get
involved
in
in
building
the
program
together
with
me
and
you're
in
that
group.
Yeah.
B
For
that
and
now
I
think
there
were
a
few
more
steps
and
a
halfway
actually
getting
closer
to
the
end
of
the
year.
We're
now
just
starting
to
talk
about
our
goals
that
align
with
the
district
Equity
policy
and
that's
actually
going
to
take
another
meeting,
because
that
was
such
a
long,
Rich
conversation.
So
yeah.
B
A
And
Powerful,
you
know:
how
is
this?
How
do
you
feel
like
this
is
changing
the
experience
for
children?
You
know,
we've
talked
a
lot
about
your
experience
as
a
child
coming
into
the
U.S
and
having
to
Grapple
with
this
massive
change
in
your
in
your
life.
You
know
like
what
you're
doing
now
in
in
our
community
here
in
Vermont
in
in
this
area.
How
is
that
changing
the
experience
of
the
children
that
you
work
with.
B
The
is
the
best
part
of
the
book.
She
notices
this
and
then
she
creates
a
lesson
plan
where
all
of
the
students
names
are
translated
into
Arabic
and
they
put
it
up
on
a
wall
and
they
make
this
quilt
out
of
the
students,
names
and
the
part
that
is
hard
because
I
feel
emotional
about
this.
But
one
of
our
El
teachers
took
that
you
know
just
took
that
opportunity
and
actually
turned
oh
turned
it
over
and
did
that
project.
In
her
school,
with
the
help
of
one
of
our
Arabic
multilingual.
B
A
A
Will
shift
it
it
kind
of
it's
a
Cascade
right,
you
know,
by
by
creating
this
space
and
allowing
for
acceptance
and
this
welcoming
culture
to
be
to
be
allowed
and
to
and
to
be,
you
know
just
present
now
you
see
those
those
seeds
growing
right.
You
see
people
from
within
this
community
that
you've
helped
create,
taking
off
and
and
creating
their
own
things,
and-
and
you
know,
okay
I
have
to
share
a
poem.
This
is
a
a
poem.
A
I
wrote
in
grad,
school
and
I
was
studying
the
theory
and
practice
of
Peace
building
and
we
were
asked
to.
We
were
asked
to
Define
conflict
transformation
with
a
haiku.
You
know,
Haiku
is
very
short:
five
syllables,
seven
syllables,
five
syllables
right,
and
so
the
poem
goes,
one
drop
ripples,
but
a
thousand
drops
birth,
New
Life.
A
Together
we
rang
and
it's
this
togetherness
it's
this
Collective
participation
that
creates
something
new
all
on
its
own.
We,
we
that's
wealth
right,
that's
that's
New,
Creation
right!
We
we
this
the
the
the
result
that
we're
given
and
the
continued
results
that
come
from
that
are
far
greater
than
the
sum
of
the
parts
that
we
put
into
it
right
and
you
know
I,
just
I,
I'm
gonna
get
emotional.
You
know,
I'm
I'm,
gonna,
I
I
find
that
to
be
such
a
powerful
experience,
and
you
know
it's
most.
A
A
So,
like
we
I
think
from
an
outside
perspective,
you
know,
with
the
bird's
eye
view
someone
just
passing
along.
They
would
look
at
that
and
say
wow
that
is
so
complicated
and
that's
so
much
going
on
and
you
know
that's
got
to
be
an
inefficient
process.
You
know,
there's
all
these
things
that
could
be
said,
but
that
that
ignores
the
value
that
is
created
and
the
potential
value
that
comes
beyond
that
right.
You
know
this
is
this.
Is
you
know?
B
A
A
That's
what
I
was
just
about
to
ask:
is
you
know?
How
are
you,
how
do
you
think
you're
building
peace
in
the
community?
Like
you
know,
everything
we've
talked
about
is
related
to
peaceability,
but
I
want
to
zero
in
on
that
I
want
to
distill
it.
You
know
and
I
want
to
get
your
view
on
what
that
means
for
peace
building.
You
know
how
do
you
think
you
are
actually
building
peace
in
our
community
today.
B
We're
building
peace
and
that's
what's
really
exciting,
and
it's
something
that
I'm
a
part
of
and
I
I
watch
our
multilingual
advisory,
Council
meetings
and
they're
facilitated
by
a
different
member
in
the
council.
Every
meeting
and
some
of
the
things
some
of
our
goals
that
we
have
are
geared
towards
helping
educate
people
about
the
different
cultures
in
the
district
and
even
creating
a
decision-making
process
within
our
advisory
Council
and
Beyond
The
Advisory
Council.
B
It
is
also
about
making
sure
that
we
are
setting
things
up
in
a
way
that
people
have
access
to
the
things
they
need
in
order
to
participate
equitably.
So
anyone
who
needs
interpretation
should
have
access
to
an
interpreter.
Anyone
who
has
children
in
the
school
district
and
there's
there's
also
a
lot
of
really
wonderful
organizations
in
Vermont
that
support
immigrant
people
and
for
me,
as
a
newer
multilingual
coordinator,
I
am
reaching
out
to
those
organizations
getting
to
know
people
creating
this
big
network
of
support.
Building.
B
A
A
You
know
she's
having
to
go
through
now
and
it's
through
the
efforts
of
the
programming
that
you're
putting
together
that
I'm,
seeing
those
dividends
pay
out
for
our
child.
You
know
we're
seeing
a
very
different
experience
for
Sarah.
There's
still
issues,
don't
get
me
wrong.
There's
still
challenges,
and
you
know
when
we're
talking
about
creating
space
for
many
different
kinds
of
cultures.
That's
that
can
be
a
difficult
thing
to
Grapple
with
from
from
someone
that's
not
used
to
it
right,
but
but
on
the
whole,
it's
it's
Sarah
that
that
is
important
here
right.
A
A
Well,
thank
you
so
much
for
being
a
part
of
the
show,
I'm
so
glad
that
you
were
willing
to
do
this
interview
and
yeah.
Ladies
and
gentlemen,
this
is
peace,
talks,
it's
brought
to
you
by
Community
wealth
development
and
as
you've
seen
today,
we
speak
with
folks
from
all
over
the
Vermont
Vermont
from
many
different
walks
of
life
that
are
all
seeking
to
build
peace
in
our
communities
today
and
I.
Think
we've
seen
a
really
incredible
example
of
that
with
Tamara
Parks.
Oh.