Canadian Kids Use Flash Mob to Call for Love

And the crowd loved it.

By Hatty Lee Feb 08, 2011

Last month, Vancouver students honored International Anti-Bullying Day with style. Students from David Lloyd George Elementary and Churchill Secondary came together to stage a flash mob at Oakridge Centre in Vancouver, BC. The group included mostly Asian students, and they all wore pink shirts with the words "Acceptance: Just the way you are" printed on them while getting down to the song "Just the Way You Are" by Bruno Mars.* It’s amazing to see these students come together (and so well-choreographed too!) to create a positive message of social acceptance.

This is just one example of how youth of color are using social media in a positive way to fight for social justice. But anything involving big groups of people of color always causes some sort of panic. Last year, the New York Times misrepresented flash mobs in Philadelphia as being violent when young folks of color thought of them as being something positive. So as these students show, don’t believe the hype.

We’re ending the day as often as possible by celebrating love. We welcome your ideas for posts. Send suggestions to [email protected], and be sure to put Celebrate Love in the subject line. You can send links to videos, graphics, photos, quotes, whatever. Or just chime in to the comments below and we’ll find you. Be sure to let us know you’ve got the rights to share any media you send.

To see other Love posts visit our Celebrate Love page.

*A previous version of this post incorrectly identified the students’ nationality.