May 2 through the 6 was Cleveland High Schools first “Multicultural Week,” which consisted of the five cultures and the colors to represent that culture so there wouldn’t be any bumps in the road with cultural appropriation. Monday is Asian/Pacific Islander day, the color being pink, to celebrate May being Asian American and Pacific Islander Month. Tuesday was Middle Eastern (with North African influences), the color being green. Wednesday was African day, with the color being yellow. Thursday was Latin American(with Central America and Spanish speaking countries from the Caribbean) with the color being red. This was also celebrated on Cinco de Mayo. Friday was the last day of culture week, and the culture being celebrated was Native American and the color was blue.

Multicultural Week was orchestrated by Cleveland High Schools “Racial and Ethnic Diversity” Club(RED). The idea started with the club’s secreatery Lazandria Wilson, who wanted something to do with culture at the school so everyone could see the light of each culture. “At first I mentioned to Storm(RED’s Vice President) that we should do something with culture and have, like, a culture day, because it would be so cool to see all cultures come together and everyone learn so much about one’s culture. I had mentioned this after the black history event we had, but Storm and Mrs.Giles(one of RED’s Club advisors) recommended a culture week and honestly it wasn’t something i wanted to agree with at first but seeing it now, culture week is a success”. Wilson also talks about the importance of why culture week is important, “It’s important to have something like this because the media has portrayed people of color so wrong as long as television and media has been around, and what you see in the media alot of the times is poor representation of people of color unless the show was written by a person of color”. 

Asian/Pacific Islander day consisted of breaking the stereotypes of Asian people and talked about hakas within New Zealand done by the Māori people, then karaoke was done at the end of the lesson, with karaoke being from Japanese culture. Middle Eastern day consisted of Middle Eastern music with the history behind the original guitar which is called an oud, then the stereotypes and misconceptions of it all, topics were the connections with North Africa, religion, Iranian people and fun facts. Then for C lunch, there was a scavenger hunt. African Day consisted of the misconception and stereotypes, a short film, kahoot and African folklore. Latin American day consisted of the misconception of Latin America, learning the different types of Latin music, and ended with listening to bachata and learning how to do it. Native American day consisted everything about pow wows with Mrs.Locklear and a special activity.  

The club wishes to have more events and spirit weeks in the future and one day even have a international festival.