Human rights awareness has become a focal point for greater discussions on the CHS campus. The Human Rights Watch Student Task Force club encompasses a range of issues but focuses on one big problem in the United States: the Southern Border crisis.
The Southern Border crisis encompasses several issues, including immigration policies and humanitarian and security challenges. Senior Ravi Bhat, the club’s co-founder, believes this issue is important to address.
“Our goal is centered around advocacy in the southern border, so we’ve been focused these past 2 years in increasing awareness of the southern border crisis in the community and trying to make sure youth in the area can become engaged in the advocacy,” Bhat said.
Bhat and his friends founded the club together, and Bhat has since gained a deeper understanding of collaboration by seeking ways to unite the group toward shared goals, such as understanding the political complexities of the border crisis. He has also started to recognize that the best way to make change is through small adjustments over time.
“It’s become pretty clear to me it’s not so simple to solve a lot of these issues,” Bhat said. “If Congress, for example, wanted to elect something, they have to pass a bill. It’s very hard to get things done. Everything has to happen through baby steps.”
The members of the HRW club have been collaborating with Congressman Mike Levin to amend the Dignity Act, legislation Levin is working to pass as a bill. Through their research, they discovered that the act tracks asylum seekers, or individuals who have fled their country, by strengthening border security and deterring illegal entrance into the U.S. in a racially biased way. They advocate for removing these biases from the Dignity Act while pushing for better policies to ensure migrants are represented fairly at the border.
“It is a huge humanitarian crisis,” senior Patrick Mason said. “Through that we are going to hopefully make a better path through immigration and a better tomorrow for our community.”
By focusing on each student individually, the leaders of the Human Rights Club ensure that each student is engaged and their time is well spent. According to Civitan International, by choosing projects members of a club are passionate about and providing the correct tools, people are less pressured and more incentivized to contribute to the community or organizations they care about.
“It’s not hard if you are passionate about it,” Bhat said. “Simply [by] being involved, you’re already making an impact because you’re giving support to a cause. We place a lot of emphasis on the members of the club to be informed on their own accord. We generally have this culture that you don’t have to be educated [on] everything.”
Mason believes that understanding these complex problems worldwide can help students grow, but addressing these challenges can be difficult because they require nuanced understanding. Being open and not staying in a personal bubble is a core value of the HRW club, something that enhances the members’ ability to build a more inclusive community.
“We want to shine a light on the plight of a lot of people and make sure people understand what’s going on in the world around them,” Mason said.
