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How can we stand up
against racial
injustice?
Why do Christians
and Hindus say we
should?
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June knowledge
2014
Express
and
understanding
Messages from prison
I have a dream..
TV advert against racism
Poetry
Essay on the impact of racism
Free choice of creative work to illustrate
the Christian or Hindu response to
racism
(See detailed notes for explanation of
tasks)
Evaluate, analyse and respond
to what has been learnt
Discuss the LFR&B questions. How
do people seek to change the
world? What methods do you think
are most likely to succeed? Should
religious people always obey those
in authority?
Enquiry questions developed
Engage: How does it feel to be
discriminated against?
Play game or quiz or use film clips as suggested in
detailed lesson notes, showing discrimination
and people’s reactions and feelings
Show clip from Gandhi film of him being thrown
of train because he refused to sit in 3rd class.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TyPaMxk6V
Engage
Express
How can we stand up
against racial
injustice?
Enquire
Why do Christians
and Hindus say we
should?
Evaluate
Key Questions KS3: Rights and Responsibilities)
LAR&B What does Christianity teach about social justice? What have
individual Christians or Christian organisations done to combat social
evils or injustice? What inspired their action?
What beliefs underpin Hindu attitudes to issues such as human rights
and responsibilities and social justice? What have individual Hindus or
Hindu organisations done to combat injustice?
LFR&B How do people seek to change the world? What methods do you
think are most likely to succeed?
Should religious people always obey those in authority?
Explore
What is prejudice and discrimination? Discuss meaning
in groups, write what you think it means on mini
whiteboards, one person from each group to share their
definitions with class and then formulate whole class
definitions
Enquire about a Christian and a Hindu who have
suffered discrimination. What do they already know
about Martin Luther King and Gandhi.
In groups fill Appendix 1 & 2 layers of inference sheets,
what do they know, what can they infer, what would
they like to know? Discuss big questions that arise
Discuss what sort of things people are usually sent to
prison for. Project a picture of prison bars and write the
classes ideas on top of them. Look at pictures of Gandhi
and King in prison and discuss what they had done
‘wrong’.
Explore the concept
Explore the motivation behind the peaceful resistance against
discrimination of both men by choosing some of the following
activities. Use DVDs/ Youtube clips
Divide class into groups. Half investigate MLK, the other half Gandhi
and teach each other.
Explore uotes and stories from Christian and Hindu Texts that
explain their motivation
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See page 3-5 for
detailed plan
Role play -in pairs being a reporter interviewing a follower of MLK
or Gandhi about their motivation and methods of protest
Quotes - Investigate their quotes about discrimination, e.g. ‘Be the
change you want to see’.
Placards for peace - What would Martin Luther King write on
placard today? What would Gandhi write on a placard today? What
would pupils write on placard about injustices in today’s world?
The power of music in protest - How do the messages of the songs
link to what King said?
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Key Questions
LAR&B What does Christianity teach about social justice? What have individual Christians or Christian organisations done to
combat social evils or injustice? What inspired their action?
What beliefs underpin Hindu attitudes to issues such as human rights and responsibilities and social justice? What have
individual Hindus or Hindu organisations done to combat injustice?
LFR&B How do people seek to change the world? What methods do you think are most likely to succeed?
Should religious people always obey those in authority?
Engage
Quiz in groups, select one minority group randomly i.e. all those with blue eyes. Be overtly prejudiced against this group
Or play a game such as musical chairs where children tend to push friends out the way to reach available chairs. Discuss how it
feels to be pushed out.
Or show clip from video about treatment of down’s boy http://www.faithit.com/i-cant-believe-the-things-people-say-to-thisguy-with-down-syndrome-but-the-beautiful-people-who-take-a-stand-will-inspire-your-socks-off/
Or play the Black eyed peas song/video ‘Where is the love?’ and ask what the message is
Or Project pictures showing discrimination. On whiteboards jot down your thoughts. Discuss how we normally judge people.
Or Clip from Hairspray of the march with banners, discuss what the banners are saying, what is the issue
Show clip from Gandhi film of him being thrown of train because he refused to sit in 3rd class.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TyPaMxk6VpQ from 06:09 Discuss Gandhi’s quote ‘We are guilty of having shamed our
brothers, we make them crawl on their stomachs, we have degraded them... with eyes full of anger we pushed them out of
the railway cars’
Enquire
Discuss- How did the pictures and/or videos you saw in the engage section make you feel?
What is prejudice and discrimination? Discuss meaning in groups, write what you think it means on mini whiteboards, one
person from each group to share their definitions with class and then formulate whole class definitions
Enquire about a Christian and a Hindu who have suffered discrimination. What do they already know about Martin Luther King
and Gandhi?
In groups fill Appendix 1 & 2 layers of inference sheets, what do they know, what can they infer, what would they like to
know? Discuss big questions that arise
Discuss what sort of things people are usually sent to prison for. Project a picture of prison bars and write the classes ideas on
top of them. Look at pictures of Gandhi and King in prison and discuss what they had done ‘wrong’.
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Explore
Explore the motivation behind the peaceful resistance against discrimination of both men by choosing some of the following
activities. Use DVDs/ Youtube clips https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l9VexOP9PDg
Divide class into groups. Half investigate MLK, the other half Gandhi and teach each other.
What would King have learnt from the parable of the Good Samaritan Luke 10.25-37
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fO4qSAhI1sI and the teachings of St Paul about equality in Galatians 3.28, the Christian
concept of being made in the image of God, Genesis 1.27
How would Gandhi been inspired by the concept of Ahimsa?
http://www.bbc.co.uk/religion/religions/jainism/living/ahimsa_1.shtml Compare and contrast their reaction to the
discrimination and how they went about overcoming it.
Role play in pairs being a reporter interviewing a follower of MLK or Gandhi about their motivation and methods of protest
Quotes
Investigate their quotes about discrimination, e.g. ‘Be the change you want to see’. What did King mean by the quote on the
left?
Placards for peace
Show images of Martin Luther’s marches in 1960s America (09.52 on video) and Gandhi’s march for equal rights for Indians in
South Africa www.youtube.com/watch?v=1sCsArbBloU Discuss what the difference is between these marches and the riots
and protests in London 2011. (Can also use Hairspray DVD chapter 14 www.youtube.com/watch?v=PKnWNBm8zek).
What would Martin Luther King write on placard today? What would Gandhi write on a placard today? What would pupils
write on placard about injustices in today’s world? Create placards with a written explanation to display.
The power of music in protest
In 1959 King and his wife visited India and Gandhi’s family. Most gatherings would end with them singing Negro Spirituals.
Investigate the teachings of Christianity in the songs. How do the messages of the songs link to what King said?
Free at last www.youtube.com/watch?v=eJbPKDmxkC4 lyrics at www.negrospirituals.com/news-song/free_at_last_from.htm
Swing low sweet chariot www.youtube.com/watch?v=z9Y_GLT4_9I
lyrics at www.negrospirituals.com/news-song/swing_low_sweet_chariot_swing_lo.htm
We shall not be moved www.youtube.com/watch?v=dbOQhyuKifw
lyrics at www.negrospirituals.com/news-song/we_shall_overcome.htm
We shall overcome www.youtube.com/watch?v=smEqnnklfYs www.youtube.com/watch?v=Aor6-DkzBJ0
lyrics at http://en.wikisource.org/wiki/We_Shall_Overcome_(song)
Evaluate
Discuss the LFR &B questions. How do people seek to change the world? What methods do you think are most likely to
succeed? Should religious people always obey those in authority?
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Express
Choose from the following express tasks
Messages from prison
King wrote a famous letter while he was in Birmingham jail, which was written on scraps of newspaper and smuggled out. One
of the things he said in this letter was that ‘we have a moral responsibility to disobey unjust laws’. What would your ‘message
from prison’ be? Students write their messages to the world if they had been imprisoned for fighting injustice. Write it out for
display on newspaper inside the prison bars
I have a dream
Students create their own ‘I have a dream’ speech about the future
www.americanrhetoric.com/speeches/mlkihaveadream.htm (text)
www.youtube.com/watch?v=smEqnnklfYs (video)
Listen to some of the speech and use it as an inspiration for poetry. Read poems out with bell in assembly ‘Let freedom ring
from the year 7 class’...etc
Create a television advert of Martin Luther King and Gandhi campaigning against racist incidents today
Research and write an essay on the impact of racism in the past and present and what the solutions might be to prevent it in
the future. Include what Christians and Hindus are doing today to fight racism.
Poetry
In 1961, the ‘Freedom Riders’, seven black and six white young people decided to travel by bus from Washington to New Orleans, crossing
six southern states. In Birmingham police stood by when Klansmen beat the Freedom Riders with lead pipes, baseball bats and bicycle
chains.
Rewrite the parable of the Good Samaritan (Luke 10.25-37) as a poem from the point of view of the priest, Levite (I stood by when....) and
the Samaritan (I didn’t stand by when...)
Write a similar poem, in a setting of choice of pupils, thinking about instances when they might be tempted to just stand by, and instances
when they have the courage to not stand by. Or write a poem in the style of ‘First they came...’ by Martin Niemoller.
http://www.ushmm.org/wlc/en/article.php?ModuleId=10007392 The poems could be written on paper chains to represent the bicycle
chains
Creative Free choice of creative work to illustrate the problems of racism and the Christian and Hindu response to it
Extend
Investigate the following people: Malcom X -Muslim response to racism, Daisaku Ikeda- Buddhist response
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Appendix 1 Layers of inference sheet Martin Luther King
What do we
know?
What can
we infer?
What would
we like to
know?
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Appendix 2 Layers of inference sheet Gandhi
What can
we infer?
What do we
know?
What would
we like to
know?
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Appendix 3 Key words
Prejudice
Believing some
people are
inferior or
superior without
even knowing
them
Discrimination
Racism
To treat someone The belief that
differently
some races are
because of their superior to others
race/sex/colour
Ethics
Morality
Thinking about
what is right and
wrong
Acting in a right
way
Stereotype
Ahimsa
Segregation
Non-violence –
no harm to any
living thing
Separating people
because of
race/sex/religion
Justice
Castes
Widely held, but Just behaviour or A social system in
unfair labels given treatment; what
India where
to other people
is fair, right and
people are
appropriate
categorised into
groups from their
birth
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I can statements
Attainment Target 1: Learning about Religion
Attainment Target 2: Learning from Religion
Level
I can
I can…
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Background information
Religious Education requirements
This unit fulfils requirements for the KS3 learning theme ‘Rights and Responsibilities: What religions say about human rights and responsibilities, social justice and
citizenship (Suffolk Agreed Syllabus 2012 page 31-33)
Teaching this unit effectively means:
Accuracy when portraying beliefs and religious concepts, use of great resources, creative approaches, awareness of the school setting, contextualization of beliefs e.g. by
using examples of real believers today, setting challenging tasks. This will result in pupils who understand more about belief and practice, and are better equipped to think
more deeply about their own lives and beliefs. We have held these ideals in mind but feel free to adapt and make the unit even more effective in your setting.
Resources for this enquiry
To be added
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Religious Concepts
Christianity – Made in the Image of God
At the end of the creation story in Genesis it is said that
God creates humankind in his own image (Genesis 1.27)
To understand how this belief that humans are made in
the image of God relates to Christian views of equality,
justice and fairness for all we also need to encounter
the doctrine of the Trinity.
Hinduism - Ahimsa
Literally translated, Ahimsa means to be without harm; to be utterly
harmless, not only to oneself and others, but to all forms of
life, from the largest mammals to the smallest bacteria. Life is
sacred regardless of faith, caste, race, or even species.
Ahimsa is often translated simply as non-violence. However, it is more than not doing
This is the Christian belief that there is One God, who is
Father, Son and Holy Spirit. In the Bible people met God
in three different forms; God the Father, revealed by
the Old Testament to be Creator, Lord, Father and Judge, God the Son who had lived on
earth amongst human beings and God the Holy Spirit who filled them with new life and
power. God the Father, God the Son and God the Holy Spirit co-exist together in a perfect
relationship.
violence; it is a whole way of life. The concept also includes the positive elements of working
The purpose of the doctrine of the trinity is not to provide factual knowledge of God's hidden
The concept of Ahimsa requires that you should refrain from
nature of the in the same way we might describe a a dog as ‘having 4 legs, fur, and barks’.
violence to any living creature. Violence includes physical,
There are however, many functions of the doctrine of the Trinity, one of them being it helps
mental and verbal violence. Violence can be committed in
humanity understand its own nature as made in the image of God and provides a model for
several ways, all of which should be avoided: committing it
human relationships, both as individuals and in community
yourself, asking others to commit violence, encouraging others
So, Christians are inspired by the doctrine of the Trinity to come up with an understanding of
human relationships something like this... Human beings are made in the image of God. God
is a community of persons in a mutual loving relationship and therefore the essence of
humanity is to be found in human relationships with others, with God, and with God's
creation. For human beings to live truly in the image of God, these relationships must be
mutual, generous and just. These relationships must acknowledge and value difference as
well as sameness. These relationships must accept as well as give.
Source: http://www.bbc.co.uk/religion/religions/christianity/beliefs/trinity_1.shtml
for justice, peace, liberation, and freedom, if doing so does not involve violence.
Mahatma Gandhi was a famous advocate of Ahimsa, as it informed his policy of passive
resistance, satyagraha (combining the Sanskrit terms for 'truth' and 'holding firmly') - which
he adopted towards the occupying British forces during the period leading up to Indian
independence.
to commit violence and assenting to or condoning violence.
Violence in thought and speech is as bad as physical violence, so
things like anger, greed, pride and jealousy must be controlled
Ahimsa is positive as well as negative, so it's good to forgive, promote tolerance and
forgiveness, be compassionate, give to charity, work for peace and do one's daily work in a
just and honest way
Source: http://www.bbc.co.uk/religion/religions/jainism/living/ahimsa_1.shtml
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