A message of unity.

Byline: The Register-Guard

The real stuff happened Wednesday in Salem.

Three dozen students from North Eugene, Churchill and Portland's Roosevelt high schools spent a transformative day of bonding, confiding, listening, apologizing, forgiving, brainstorming and soul-searching Wednesday in the wake of racially charged incidents at the Oregon School Activities Association Class 5A boys basketball championships in March.

Based on the accounts of the students involved, it was an extraordinary day - the kind that gives reason to hope not only that the mistakes of the past can be avoided in the future, but that new relationships, new understandings and new beginnings can emerge as a result.

School officials wisely strove to assemble a diverse group of students not only in terms of age, race, ethnicity and culture, but in terms of personalities and leadership styles, as well. There were the student body leaders one would expect to find at such a gathering, but there were others with different backgrounds. Roosevelt Principal Deborah Peterson noted that she made a point of inviting those students she thought would take the conversation that began at Wednesday's retreat and continue it in the hallways and classrooms of her school in Portland.

The retreat was closed to the media, and properly so. The move enabled the students to share openly, honestly and, according to school officials, even tender apologies to one another for what transpired. As one Eugene school official noted, "It was a very solemn moment," one made more so because of the privacy accorded the students involved.

Near the end of the daylong meeting, students broke into groups to generate ideas about confronting racism and cultivating respect and understanding within their schools and communities. There were some highly creative and promising suggestions, including a joint documentary that could be disseminated to schools around the state. As Churchill senior Sky Stickney later observed, "Most of the people who need to hear this aren't here, so that's our job - to take it back."

In the wake of the tournament incidents, school officials have taken a range of necessary and appropriate official steps, including requisite investigations and policy and curriculum reviews. The OSAA has conducted its own investigation and made commendable changes, including the creation of a new committee to address discrimination and sportsmanship in athletic events across the state.

But the voices and faces of the students who emerged to speak with reporters after Wednesday's retreat make it clear the most important changes occurred behind closed doors at Chemeketa Community College.