Lesson video

Hi, everyone.

My name is miss Speakman.

We're in lesson 4 of 14 of the human rights unit.

And in today's lesson, we're looking at prejudice and discrimination based on race.

The lesson we're about to complete contains reference to prejudice based on race.

For some people, this will be a sensitive topic.

If that applies to you, you may want to do the rest of this lesson with a trusted adult nearby who can provide support.

We'll also be making reference to a story of someone who was murdered, because of discrimination based on race, which of course, also may be a sensitive topic.

So in this lesson today, we're going to learn Christian and Muslim views and prejudice and discrimination based on race, we're going to look at Martin Luther King Jr, Jesus' teachings and Muhammad's teachings.

We can look at the case study of the murder of Anthony Walker, and we're also going to consider the role of positive discrimination too.

So let's make sure we are ready for our lesson today.

So we're going to need a pen or a pencil, a piece of paper, or an exercise book, and a different coloured pen ready for corrections.

We're also going to need to make sure you've got a clear, quiet working space.

So TV and music off, phone to one side if you are not using it for the lesson and a nice quiet desk space.

If we need to get any of those things sorted, or get anything together, please pause video now, go and grab those things, get yourself sorted, unpause it when you are ready to move on.

Okay, wonderful.

Let's get started then.

I'm going to start off with two key definitions.

The first one is racism, which is prejudice and discrimination based on the race or ethnicity of a person or a group, and then anti-racism, which is being actively opposed to racism.

So not just saying that you disagree with it, but actively opposed to it perhaps that might be sharing things on social media, working with charities, protesting, et cetera, all against the idea of racism.

What I'd like you to do is to copy down these two definitions for me please, so pause the video now, copy these down and then we will move on and then unpause when you're ready.

Brilliant.

Thank you so much for writing those down.

Let's now look at the causes of racism.

Oh, where's my camera gone? Hang on one moment.

Let me just pop it up.

Okay.

So it's really difficult to ask this question.

What are the causes of racism? It's difficult because the issue is so complex.

We're looking at a large amount of history, but also a large part is that, we cannot pinpoint exactly what the cause of racism is.

We have some ideas of persons influenced from people's views on racism and where racism might come from, but it would be wrong of me to suggest these are the only causes of racism, but these are some ones I've pulled out to discuss with you.

So as with many cases of prejudice and discrimination, most often or not, a part of the cause is often ignorance.

So perhaps maybe a misunderstanding, not knowing enough about what a person can or can't do and making assumptions about what people can and can't do.

And therefore being ignorant and not fully understanding the issue that they're talking about.

Now, we can also refer to historical racism, including slavery.

Now slavery was abolished in 1883 in the UK.

However, when it was abolished, some money was said to be paid to the slave traders as sort of compensation for losing their slaves.

And this actually has been continued to be paid off by UK taxpayers until very recently.

So essentially, we can say that yes, slavery may have been abolished, but the after effects of slavery and the compensation for the slave traders actually continued for a large number of years afterwards.

And therefore we can say that in some way, the system, maybe what we call systematic racism, that embedded within society or some essentially facilities and ideas and laws, et cetera, which still disadvantaged those people.

We can talk about institutionalised racism too that from the past, this idea of separate but equal.

This idea of segregation, has still led to some people seeing people of other races or ethnicity as the other.

So that is self damaging.

Cause we see someone as the other, then you're going to treat them differently, whether you are actively trying to or not.

And we can see this within different ways in which people have access to healthcare education, et cetera.

Whereas all these things are equal.

In the past, people of another race or ethnicity, often black people, did not have the same opportunities, and this has impounded over time.

And so many people who are black have less opportunities and therefore are still finding that institutional racism affects them now.

And in the past as well, and maybe even in the present, some people have tried to use science to say there are differences and that's why people of different races should be treated differently.

So the use of science tried to suggest that black people were unintelligent.

And these sorts of ideas have actually remained in people's minds even now.

So it's really difficult to say exactly what the cause of racism is, and it's a really, really complex issue.

But of course, there are things to be aware of in terms of historical racism, where those ideas still perhaps exist today, institutionalised racism.

So this is ideas of when things have been segregated or laws actually disadvantaged people of different races, specifically black people, that this has actually continued and impounded now into our society today.

So it's a very complex issue, but what we're going to have a look at it, mainly Christian views and Islamic views on racism, but we're also going to look at a case study of someone in the UK who was murdered based on his race.

So I'm going to disappear so that I can then ask you a question and then we'll get started on learning about Christianity and Islam and their views on racism.

What I'd like you to do is to answer the following questions spending about four minutes on this.

From what you know of Christian teaching, what do you think the Christian view on prejudice and discrimination based on race will be? You might want to consider what Christians believe about the value of human life or Jesus's teachings, or perhaps maybe your own ideas too.

So I'm going to pause the video now, spend four on this and then unpause when you are ready.

Okay.

I'm just going to appear on the screen, some time.

There we go.

So we're now going to look at Christian teachings on racism.

Thank you for writing down your thoughts.

I'm sure they're absolutely brilliant.

I'm now going to give you some specific teachings, talk through them with you.

So then we have a really good idea of what Christianity would teach on racism.

So we're going to start with the creation story.

Many Christians believe in the creation story; all humans are made in God's image.

The verse says, "So God created human beings," "making them to be like Himself." This doesn't mean that they look like God.

It essentially means that Christians believe they reflect the qualities of God.

And that in this case, every human being is sacred and special as part of God's creation, that nothing else sets them apart in terms of whether one is better than the other.

The fact that they are all human beings created by God, makes everyone sacred and special, and therefore treating someone differently based on race would be wrong.

We also have this verse in Galatians, I think is so good to use with this unit, it just works with so many of the topics.

"There is no difference between Jews and Gentiles," "between slaves and free people, between men and women." "You are all one in union with Christ Jesus," essentially saying very clearly here, there is no difference between you, even if there are physical differences, whether there's differences in religion, belief, et cetera, it doesn't matter.

God loves everyone equal.

They're all one in Christ Jesus, and therefore racism is wrong.

And we also have situation ethics, which teaches some Christians to do the most loving thing in any situation.

This is based on the love, which is called Agape Love in the Greek terms. Sort of essentially means, Agape is self-sacrificial, unconditional, selfless love.

Essentially, the idea that is a sign of love that God shows to humanity.

And God doesn't like someone better or less, based on who they are.

He loves all all people equally.

and unconditionally.

And therefore many Christians, believe that racism is not showing Agape, that racism is the exact opposite.

So you would see here that Christianity clearly teaches that racism is wrong, that everybody's equal in the eyes of God.

So we're going to do is some multiple choice quickfire questions.

I love these types of questions because they work so well in testing knowledge so far.

It means you don't have to write anything down, but you do get a really good understanding of that's something I need to go back to.

This is something I can do.

It's a really good way of quickly testing you as well.

So I give you a question.

There are two possible answers, as I give you a countdown of three seconds.

And then after three seconds, you say out loud, or you point to the screen, which one is the correct answer.

We go through it.

Then we say, "Yay, we've got all of those correct." And if we didn't, that's absolutely fine.

It just highlights to us something to return to.

So I'm going to disappear.

Let's get ready.

Multiple choice, quick fire questions.

Most Christians believe that all humans are created in God's image.

Is that true or false? Three, two, one.

That is true.

Galatians 3:28 explicitly allows racism.

Is that true or false? Three, two, one.

That is false.

Agape love should only be shown towards those you know, and care about.

Is that true or false? Three, two, one.

That is false.

Agape love is for all people, regardless of whether or not they are known to you or you care about them.

Some churches have supported acts we may now consider racist, such as apartheid.

Now, very quickly, cause I feel like I didn't cover this in my explanation just now, which just makes us very hard.

Doesn't it I'm afraid? So in the past, apartheid is the idea of white and black being separated.

This specifically happened in South Africa.

Some churches would have said that this was the right thing to do.

So three, two, one.

Yes.

That is true.

Really apologise for not making that clearer earlier.

Essentially yes, many churches in the past had supported acts such as apartheid, which we now consider racist.

And so many Christians, would want to acknowledge that things in the past, haven't always been treating people fairly and equally, but would work of course to help, that this doesn't happen today.

So what we're going to we're now going to do is move on to some quotations, and the ones that I just looked at with you earlier and just make sure we understand what they show about racism, how we can use them to talk about Christian views on racism.

Well done for completing those quick fire questions.

So I want you to answer the following questions.

Spend about five minutes on this.

I want you to explain how Galatians 3:28 shows that most Christians would be against racism and explain how situation ethics shows that most Christians would be against racism.

Now Galatians 3:28 is that there is neither Jew nor Gentile slave nor free, et cetera, et cetera, quotation.

You're all one in Christ Jesus.

If you needed that reminder.

I'd like to pause the video now.

Spend about five minutes on this, answer this question.

Unpause when you're ready to go through the answers with me.

Okay.

So please have your different coloured pen out ready for corrections because if you need to, we can make corrections that it's nice and clear that it's corrections, rather than your work.

If you're not quite finished, then you can rewind the video and carry on and then come back to us when you're ready.

So Galatians 3:28 explains how there's no difference between Jews, Gentiles, which are non-Jews, male, female, et cetera, and says they're all one within Jesus.

This shows Christians that just because they are different, it does not mean they are valued any less by God.

This therefore should lead Christians to believe that racism is wrong.

Situation ethics, teaches that any action should be done out of Agape love.

Agape love is selfless, sacrificial, unconditional love.

The sort of love that God shows to humanity.

It would not be showing Agape love to treat someone differently because of their race.

Now, if you need to make any corrections, can you please pause the video and do so now? And then after you unpause and once you're ready, we're going to look at the Martin Luther King Jr.

So you might recognise this face or recognise the name, Dr.

Martin Luther King Jr.

Now Martin Luther King Jr grew up in segregated America.

The sort of idea at the time in American society, that blacks and whites were separate but equal.

This meant that they didn't enjoy the same rights as everybody else; as the whites.

So they had segregated seating, segregated public transport.

They weren't allowed certain jobs.

Back then, state facilities, weren't as good for blacks as they were for whites.

So he was influenced by his religious beliefs, but also believed himself in the idea of Christianity.

So he was a Christian minister, but also personally, he believed that everyone should be equal.

He was particularly influenced by the turn the other cheek teaching of Jesus, and believed that nonviolent protests were the best way to make change.

He's well known for delivering speeches for boycotts.

He worked with Rosa Parks for the bus boycotts, and he's very famous for his "I Have A Dream" speech and his organised marches.

In 1968, he was actually assassinated by someone who disagreed with him being so vocal about his protests.

What we're going to do now is a multiple choice of quickfire questions.

Just to test our understanding.

Then we're going to do some longer questions to bring that all together, and then move on to Islamic views on racism.

Segregation meant that people were treated fairly regardless of their race.

Is that true or false? Three, two, one.

That is false.

Segregation meant that people were unfairly treated.

Martin Luther King Jr was a Muslim.

Is that true or false? Three, two, one.

That is false.

Martin Luther King Jr was a Christian.

Martin Luther King Jr followed his personal conviction, which was belief in racial equality.

True or false? Three, two, one.

Good.

That is true.

So he did personally believe that racial equality was very important.

Martin Luther King Jr believed in the use of nonviolence.

Is that true or false? Three, two, one.

Good.

That is true.

He believed in the use of nonviolence when protesting.

Martin Luther King Jr's' famous speech was called the, "I Have A Vision" speech.

Is that true or false? Three, two, one.

False.

Martin Luther King's famous speech was called, "I Have A Dream" speech.

Well, done if you got all those questions, correct.

We're now going to move on to looking at some questions to bring this all together.

So I'd like you to pause the video and complete the following questions.

There are three questions.

So why did Martin Luther King Jr believe there was need for change in America? What beliefs drove Martin Luther King Jr to campaign for racial equality? How did Martin Luther King Jr campaign for racial equality? So you want to answer those three questions.

Some hints are in brackets for you.

Pause the video now, spend about five minutes on this.

Unpause when you are ready to move on and look at corrections.

Okay, please have your different coloured pens out ready for corrections.

We're going to go through the answers together and you have a chance to make corrections if you need to.

So Martin Luther King Jr believed that there was need for change in America because at that time there was segregation and laws that stated that black and white people were separate but equal.

This led to poorer quality state facilities for black people, such as schools and hospitals.

Martin Luther King Jr was driven by his Christian beliefs that everyone was equal and believed in nonviolence.

as the Bible taught him to let him slap your left cheek too.

He had a personal conviction that all humans are equal regardless of their race.

I've added some things here, which I think are really important for us to go over too.

If you need to make any corrections, please pause the video now, make those corrections and unpause when you're ready to move on and we'll look at the next couple of questions.

So Martin Luther King Jr organised marches, peaceful protests, and helped organise Rosa Parks' bus boycott.

He also gave speeches such as the famous "I Have A Dream" speech.

These helped to end segregation laws in America until he was assassinated in 1968.

Again, if you need to make corrections, please pause the video now and do so and then after that, we'll move on and start looking at Islamic views on racism.

So what I like to do is to spend about four minutes on this to introduce views on Islam and racism.

I want you to think about what you know of Islamic teaching.

What do you think the Islamic view on prejudice and discrimination based on race will be.

You want to consider things such as what Muslims believe about the value of human life or the example of the prophet Muhammad.

So please pause the video now, spend about four minutes on this and unpause when you are ready to start talking with me about, "What do Muslims believe about racism?" We're now going to look at Muslim teachings on racism.

And we'll start off with the creation of humans.

So Muslims believe that Adam was made by Allah from seven types of soil.

Essentially, this means is that they believe that the angels took pieces of soil from seven different parts of the world, and then made Adam out of it.

And therefore, they'd say that we are made up of, in humanity, of so many different skin colours, and that's the way that Allah made it.

And so therefore, they'd say that treating someone differently based on their race, would be wrong.

Now in Muhammad's last sermon, the last sermon he gave before he died, he says the following, "The Arab is not superior to a non-Arab," "neither a non-Arab to an Arab," "neither a red-skinned person to a black-skinned person," "and neither a black-skinned person" "to a red-skinned person," "except through Taqwa." Taqwa means the submission and loyalty to Allah, following the teachings of the Quran.

Essentially what, Muhammad is saying very clearly here is you don't treat someone differently based on their race or their skin colour.

You treat them based on their actions and their deeds.

And that's down to Allah.

Allah will decide whether a person goes to paradise or hell, based on their good and bad deeds, not to do with anything else.

And therefore discrimination based on race would be wrong.

And we also have an example in Muhammad's life where he chose Bilal ibn Rabah, a former slave from Ethiopia, to do the first call to prayer.

So the first call to prayer would have been an honourable thing to do, and Muhammad chooses someone who may have been marginalised by society to do that, showing that he believes that all people are equal and should be treated equally.

We're now going to do some multiple choice, quick fire questions.

Then after that, we're going to do some questions to bring that all together.

And then we're going to look at a case study of someone who was murdered for essentially being of a different race, which is a sensitive topic.

So let's go.

Most Muslims believe all humans were made in Allah's image.

Is that true or false? Three, two, one.

False.

Muslims don't believe this.

This is the Christian view, but they do believe that all humans were created equally, and of equal value.

Most Muslims believe Adam was made from seven types of soil.

Is that true or false? Three, two, one.

Good, that is true, because some Muslims believe Adam was made from seven types of soil, those Muslims will believe some races are superior.

Is that true or false? Three, two, one.

False, because they're made from seven types of soil, many Muslims would say that all people are equal.

Most Muslims believe in Muhammad's last sermon, he preached that everyone was not equal.

Is that true or false? Three, two, one.

That is false.

That teaching we looked at about, "An Arab is not superior to a non-Arab," et cetera, is from Muhammad's last sermon.

He preaches everyone is equal.

Many Muslims believe Muhammad called a former slave to give the first call to prayer.

Is that true or false? Three, two, one.

Good.

That is true.

Many Muslims believe Muhammad did call a former slave to give the first call to prayer, which would have been a great honour.

So well done, if you got all of those questions, correct.

We're now going to move on to some questions based on this.

So I'd like you to answer the following questions.

Spend about five minutes on this.

Explain how the belief that Adam was made from seven types of soil, shows that most Muslims would be against racism, and explain how Muhammad's last sermon shows that most Muslims would be against racism.

I'd like you to pause the video now please.

Spend about five minutes on this and unpause when you are ready to move on.

Okay, if you are ready then please have a different coloured pen out ready for corrections.

If you're not quite done, you can rewind the video and carry on and come back to us when you're ready.

Let's correct.

So, the belief of most Muslims that Adam was made by Allah, from seven types of soil, teaches, many Muslims that humanity's made of many races and that all are God's creation and therefore treating them differently because of this would be wrong.

And in Muhammad's last sermon, many Muslims believe he was clear that there was no difference between different races.

That the only difference is determined by their loyalty to Allah and their submission.

Therefore, they would believe that racism is wrong.

If you need to make any corrections, please pause the video and do so now.

And then once you are ready, we're going to move on to looking at our case study.

Okay, thank you for doing those questions, but now I'm going to look at the case study of Anthony Walker.

Anthony Walker was an 18 year old black boy who was murdered on his way home by two young men in a racial attack in July, 2005.

This is a sensitive topic.

And the video that we'll be looking at as part of the work today, is quite emotional.

So again, if you do feel like you need someone, a trusted adult nearby who can support you, then please do that.

What I'm going to do now is I'm going to disappear.

I'm going to give you instructions to refer to the worksheet, to watch a video.

And that video will then be useful for some questions I'm going to ask you in a moment.

I want you pause the video please and then watch the video on the worksheet and then unpause when you're ready and I'll give you some questions to complete.

So I'd like you to answer the following questions please.

Who was Anthony Walker and why was he murdered? And what was the reaction of his mother and his sister and why? I want to spend about five minutes on this, And then I want you to pause the video now and unpause when you're ready to go through corrections, please.

Okay, please have your different coloured pen out, ready for corrections and we'll go through the answers together.

So Anthony Walker was an 18 year old school boy who was killed on his way home in a racist attack by two other young men.

His mother and his sister chose to forgive his killers as they were influenced by their Christian beliefs, and so that they didn't have to live with the hatred they felt towards those who killed Anthony.

If you need to make any corrections, can you please do so now by pausing the video then unpause when you have finished.

I'm just going to wait for my camera to appear.

It takes a while.

There we go.

Okay.

I want to say a huge huge thank you for working so hard in our lesson today.

We've covered some very um, difficult topics actually.

The story of Anthony Walker is a horrible story, but I hope brings to light some of the ideas surrounding Christianity in response to horrible things like this, that happen.

But also, I hope that you've learned a lot about Christian and Muslim views on racism, and why the majority of Muslims and Christians would be against racism.

Thank you so much again for working so hard.

I hope to see you again soon for one of our lessons.

So thank you.

Bye.