Objective:

A. Students who watch this video should gain an understanding of what it means to treat one class of people differently than another without justification.

B.  Students should have good idea of how to deal with examples of prejudice when they experience them.

Situation:  One of the most common forms of prejudice is stereotyping.  Stereotyping may be a seemingly innocent thing like blond jokes or making light of cheerleaders, but the habit of looking at people in this way can lead to more serious forms of prejudice.  In any case, jokes that single people out because of physical or other characteristics do no good and are often hurtful.

Example:  People of dark skin pigmentation are most often found in hotter lands near the equator.  For this reason, it has been assumed that they are better adapted to work in conditions that would injure a lighter skinned person.  This along with other factors was used to justify slavery in America and in other places.  Today, vestiges of this thinking remain in the form of racial slurs pointing out the prevalence of African Americans in Music and Sports.

Main Question:  What are some other forms of prejudice that exist in the world today, and what can we do about it?

Student projects:

          A. Written: Treating People in Parallel Manner 

B.  Multi Media Project:  Assemble a project using Power Point, photos, music, recorded speeches, video etc.  Chronicle the experience of minorities in America, past and present.  Try to include a broad range of minorities and show how their treatment has changed with time.