Teaching Children about Racism
Racism is believing that one race is superior to other races; the belief is fed by prejudice and stereotyping. When children hear racist remarks at home they take them as fact and repeat what was said in the playground, sharing racism with their classmates. Racism is also perpetuated by listening to – and passing on – racist jokes. Being racist is being abusive, biased, a bully, ignorant, intolerant, narrow-minded, bigoted, blinkered and prejudiced. Racist people can also be dangerous as they can spread hatred and incite violence. ‘Inciting racial hatred’ is a criminal offence. Any racist behaviour, such as verbal abuse, harassment or physical violence, is also against the law.
To stop racism, children shouldn’t laugh at racist jokes or pass them on. If someone makes a negative comment about someone from another ethnic group they should ask what they based their comment on. If there’s no evidence to back up the comment, they should point it out or ask the person to take back what they said and apologize. Children need to look beyond external appearances and base their liking on personalities and commonalities. They should celebrate the rich culture brought to their area, enjoy the different music available to listen to and the range of foodstuffs available to eat. They could find out about other cultures by talking to people from those cultures and they could try to understand how other people’s lives differ from theirs. They should build bridges rather than break them.
It is important to stop racism since hatred against a particular race can escalate and through increasing violence someone could be badly injured or even killed – or victims might be so unhappy they commit suicide.
Discuss the following questions with the class:
- What is racism? How do people become racist?
- Think of words to describe racist people.
- Is racism legal?
- How do you think it feels to be picked on because of your race? (It could make you feel valueless, scared, lacking in confidence and self-esteem. You might find it hard to trust people, turn against your own religion or culture and have identity issues.)
- How might your life be affected? (Your schoolwork might suffer. You might play truant, pretend to be ill, refuse to go to school or leave your home at all through fear. You might be lonely.)
- How would you feel if you were the only person from your race in the area? (Very conspicuous, afraid, alone, with no friends. You might assume everyone from other races is hostile since you’ve had negative experiences before.)
- If the race you are from is not important, what is important about people? (How they behave towards you, how kind they are, the kind of person they are or become, whether they are doing their best with the resources and talents that they have, to what use they put those talents and how they live their life.)
- Why is it important to stop racism?
- What can you do to stop racism?
Finally, teaching them that love covers all races and that love has no racial boundaries. As parents and educators, we should also show them in action.