The Global Education Club

Anti-Racism

Anti-Racism is a critical part of Global Education.

International Day for the Elimination of Racism, March 21
We call it Anti-Racism Day. The Global Club encourages awareness and action every year on March 21.

Some things we've done:

• pass out stickers from March 21 committee, saying "Stop Racism"

• Anti-Racism door decorating contest

• each student in the school traces their hand on coloured paper. They're glued into a big rainbow and put on the gym wall, with the title "Celebrating the colours of our school"

• essay and poem contest

Simulation Exercise
The Global Club's favorite activity is the Face Painting Exercise.

Club members come 15 minutes early in the morning before the entry bell and paint their faces very - uh - differently. They collect comments made by classmates and other school members throughout the morning. At our lunch meeting we debrief the experience. Here are the questions I ask to help them process and learn from the experience:

Experience: How did people react?
What did they say?
How did it make you feel?

Interpret: Why did they react that way?
Did they realize some of their reactions and comments were hurtful?

Generalize: Have you ever experienced that feeling before?
Have you ever been bullied, or excluded because you were different in some way?
In what ways have you discriminated against others (because we all have done that at some point)?
In what ways are people discriminated against in our school/community/world?

Analyze: What causes discrimination?
How can it be stopped?
What do we each need to do ensure people are not hurt?

Apply: What is your plan?
How will you do things differently from now on?
How are you personally responsible for making discrimination stop?

This activity is short, but extremely powerful if time is taken to debrief it properly. The students demand we do the exercise every year, and the experience of being visibly different, a minority stared at and commented about, is very worthwhile. Empathy is a very critical life skill, and through being able to revisit the feelings of discrimination we are less likely to do it ourselves, and more likely to take a stand.

Here are some of the comments students have received with their faces painted:
You look weird.        What the *&(*& happened to you?        OH MY GOD!            Weirdo        Ugly        You look stupid
Yours is the best        Dumb person                                            Cool face.         Hello little ugly face            Meat head
Cool                            Beautiful                I like it                Nice designs        Funny        Scary        Retarded
Whoa!        This school is turning weird.         You scare me.            Hah hah.        Nice
What's wrong with you?            That looks crazy.    (just staring)       Awesome.                You look like a fish.

Racism can be combated by celebrating all cultures, faiths, languages, dress, food, and celebrations all the time. No school population is absolutely uniform. There are always differences, and understanding and celebrating differences leads to improved tolerance, acceptance and peace between all people.

Here are some ways our school celebrates Multiculturalism:

• We have a "dual track" school (French and English immersion) in an Anglo community, so we celebrate Quebec holidays, food, and French language at all opportunities.
   

• We had a Multi-cultural fashion show with clothing shared from people in our school and greater community; done in conjunction with our local Multicultural Association

• On an ongoing basis we invite speakers of different faiths and countries to share

• We often have a multi-cultural potluck for Meet the Teacher night or for staff feasts

• Some classrooms invite students to bring food from their background to share on their birthday instead of the common cupcakes

• Some teachers have annual multi-cultural displays and feasts, with each student in their class doing a report on a different country and bringing food for other classes to sample
  
   

  Anti-Racism Websites