Social World - Power

January 3- February 10

“Efforts to change society are not necessary; societies will change when individuals change.”

– J. Krishnamurti

Social injustice can take many forms: racism, political imprisonment, discrimination, torture, hunger and genocide. Some of these forms are more prevalent than others. Sometimes people choose to fight these social injustices and sometimes they choose not to.

"He who passively accepts evil is as much involved in it as he who helps to perpetuate it. He who accepts evil without protesting against it is really cooperating with it.”

-Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.

I was living in Germany and I did not like Hitler, but I did not do much about it. Hitler came for the Jews and I said, “I am not a Jew”, and I didn’t do anything to help them. Then Hitler came for the Communists and I said, “I am not a Communist”, and I did nothing to help them. Then Hitler came for the labor leaders and I said, “I am not a labor leader”, and I turned my back. Then they came for the intellectuals and the artists. I said, “I am not and intellectual or an artist”, and I turned my back again. Then one night I heard the sirens wail; I heard the truck on my street; I heard the storm troopers pounding up the stairs; I heard them bang on my door. I started to scream, ”Help me!”, but I knew, through my own fault, there was nobody left to hear me.

-Rev. Martin Niemoeller, a German pastor who spent 7 years in a concentration camp

Overview

From the very day of America’s birth, July 4, 1776, this nation has celebrated the ideas of human rights. Thomas Jefferson stated in the Declaration of Independence as “self evident” this truth for all Americans: “all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their creator with certain unalienable rights, that among these are Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Happiness.”
More than two centuries have passed since the signers of the Declaration mutually pledged “Our Lives, Our Fortunes and our Sacred Honor” to the cause of human liberty. So delicate, so fragile a flower is freedom that many times since 1776 it has seemed unlikely that the dreams of the Founding Fathers could survive.

Who, then, is left to stand for the rights of individuals? How, in a democracy, can we prevent those with the majority of votes from tyrannizing over the minority? Always there have been a few courageous personalities who have persisted. Together they make up that class of heroic leaders who, often in the face of great odds, continue to struggle to free the human spirit from ignorance and prejudice.

_____1. Read the overview and go over the vocabulary with your color group. Vocabulary Words: scapegoat, predilection, tolerance, prejudices, apartheid, internment, suffrage, discrimination, segregation, xenophobia, racism, genocide, ethnocentrism, injustice, civil right, stereotype, diversity, bias, oppression.

_____2. Personal Project: Take the hidden biases test at www.tolerance.org/hidden_bias/02.html. Research more about the bias your did the test on. What is the bias and what is being done to change societal views.

_____3. Socratic Discussion: Read Sneetches by Dr. Seuss.

_____4. Advanced Work: Research Amnesty International, the United Nations, the NAACP, U.N.E.S.C.O., the Anti-Defamation League, the American Civil Liberties Union, the Southern Poverty Law Center, U.N.I.C.E.F., or another approved group. You may conduct this research via an interview, telephone conference, the internet or using resources in the classroom. Report the organizations’ mission, whether they are a worldwide or national organization, and how interested people can join and/or help their cause(s). The information will be compiled into a resource booklet to initiate change.

Guiding Question 1: What is the history of social injustice in the United States and the world and how can it have power over people’s live?

_____5. Receive a lesson on the continuum of social relationships and watch the video “The Shadow of Hate”. Think about any biases that you may have and discuss what you can do about them. You may choose to sign the Declaration of Tolerance and turn it in to your color group teacher.

_____6. IW Read pages 814 – 821 in The American Nation and record it in your graphic organizer.

_____7. Complete the two activities to answer the guiding question.
    a) In your small group, choose 2 of the topics and research the historical and contemporary aspects of the following and include the main geographic locations of each. Create a PowerPoint presentation on each of the groups who have experienced social injustice. In your presentation, be sure to define social injustice, state the specific social injustice being presented and give some historical background of the problem. Also, highlight people who have made a difference and what needs to happen in the future for conditions to continue to become better. Include narration as your group presents the information.
•    Women’s suffrage
•    School segregation/integration
•    Civil rights
•    Immigration
•    Japanese Internment Camps
•    Native American Reservations
•    Genocide of Jewish groups
•    Religious intolerance
•    Gender discrimination
•    Disability rights
•    Children’s rights

_____8. Present and add information and examples from your individual and group work to your graphic organizer.

Guiding Question 2: How can we use this history to empower ourselves to affect political change?

_____9. Participate in the lesson on the history of universal human rights in the US and the world by looking closely at the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.

_____10. IW Read the handout on Human Rights and record in the graphic organizer.

_____11. Complete the two activities to answer the guiding question.

a) Each small group will select (6-8) articles from the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, interpret them and present on how they reinforce equality and social justice within the US and the world.
b) Create a bumper sticker with a slogan promoting awareness of one of the following social injustice topics: discrimination, racism, prejudice, stereotyping, xenophobia, ethnocentrism, scapegoating, apartheid, genocide or any other form you are aware of.

_____12. Present and add information and examples from your individual and group work to your graphic organizer.

How do I put it all together?