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Challenging racism and discrimination

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Learning objectives

What are the best ways to challenge racist activity and promote a tolerant, multi-ethnic and inclusive society?

What happened to Stephen Lawrence?

Teacher’s notes included in the Notes PageFlash activity. These activities are not editable.

Web addressesExtension activities

Icons key: For more detailed instructions, see the Getting Started presentation

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There are a number of things that can be done to try and combat racist behaviour. These include:

being able to empathize with one anotherbeing sure of one’s own identityunderstanding differences in people’s culture and customsactively challenging discriminatory attitudes.

Why do people act in racist and discriminatory ways?

Combating racism

Ultimately, racism arises from an ignorance of other people’s differences. Often this ignorance stems from a learned set of values, perhaps from family, friends or society.

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Stephen Lawrence

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“The collective failure of an organization to provide an appropriate and professional service to people because of their colour, culture, or ethnic origin.”

Institutional racism remains a pressing issue in the UK today. Only 9.5% of officers in the Metropolitan Police Service are from an ethnic minority background, but a 2009 report on police recruitment set targets to improve this proportion.

Institutional racism

The Macpherson report accused the Metropolitan Police Service of institutional racism.

What measures do you think are in place to try to prevent institutional racism in the UK?

What does this mean?

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Activity

What would you do if someone was treating you unfairly or committed a racially-motivated crime against you?

Discuss in small groups the most important things you think should be taught in schools:

about diversity and tolerance

about challenging racism and inequality.

As a class, create a ‘top ten’ list to present to your school’s curriculum committee.