Is anything that sticks out for you or that challenges
Is there anything that you disagree with or challenged you? If so, what and why (e.g. why do you disagree with him)?
White People
Black Lives Matter:
Black Lives Matter (BLM) is an international activist movement, originating in the African-American community, that campaigns against violence and systemic racism towards black people.
18 year old man, shot by police within a minute of being stopped for a supposed cigarillo theft at a local convenience store.
Tamir Rice:
A 12-year-old African-American boy was shot and killed by a Cleveland police officer in 2014. Spotted walking around a park, with what turned out to be a BB gun, police shot and killed Tamir within 2 seconds of arriving on scene. Rice's death has been cited as "sparking" the Black Lives Matter movement.
John Crawford III
Police shot and killed 22-year-old John Crawford who was carrying a BB gun in an Ohio Walmart after calls to 911.
Eric Garner
Black Lives Matter: A look into the movement's history
How to Raise a Black Son in America:
Pre-watching:
Based on the title and the information you've learned about the #blacklivesmatter movement what kind of topics do you think this speaker is going to cover?
What advice would you give your son if you were black in America?
Sandra Bland
Discussion:
What struck you most about the behaviour of Sandra / The Police Officer?
Who do you feel was in the right during this confrontation? Why?
Have you ever had an interaction with a police officer?
Has this video changed your view of police officers?
What can governments and Police Administrations do to make sure such situations don't occur in the future?
Marches and other classic forms of protests have been added to by the growing Take a Knee form of protest. This involves refusing to stand during the playing of the American National anthem, and rather falling to one knee.
All Lives Matter:
All Lives Matter (#AllLivesMatter) is a slogan that has come to be associated with criticism of the Black Lives Matter movement.
“We take all we want from black culture, but will we show up for black lives?”
Discuss in small groups then debrief:
What came up or sparked for you while listening to this song?
How does the piece reflect Macklemore’s place as an ally?
How does the piece reflect how black people and white people perceive BLM in this moment?
Do white rappers have a responsibility to be informed about black issues in America? Why or why not?
The Alt-Right Reaction to Black Lives Matter
Displays of flags associated with the Confederacy have long been controversial. Many Southerners associate the Confederate battle flag with pride in Southern heritage, states' rights, historical commemoration of the American Civil War; opponents associate it with historical revisionism and glorification of the Civil War (i.e. the Lost Cause myth), racism, slavery, segregation, white supremacy, attempted intimidations of African-Americans and treason.
Additional class discussion:
Does protest have to be peaceful in order to be morally justified?
If a law is unjust, are you justified in breaking it?
Themes to unpack and consider:
The power of inconvenience
The civil rights movement of the past as well as the women’s suffrage movement has done it in the past
Charlottesville: Race and Terror
In response to the Black Lives Matter Movement hundreds of white nationalists, alt-righters, and neo-Nazis traveled to Charlottesville, Virginia to participate in the “Unite the Right” rally. By the next evening three people were dead – one protester, and two police officers – and many more injured.
Blue Lives Matter:
Blue Lives Matter is a countermovement in the United States advocating that those who are prosecuted and convicted of killing law enforcement officers should be sentenced under hate crime statutes. It was started in response to Black Lives Matter after the homicides of NYPD officers Rafael Ramos and Wenjian Liu in Brooklyn, New York on December 20, 2014.
Dallas Texas Ambush:
Asian-Focused Racism in Canada
Discuss and Debrief:
What are some words or things that we as Canadians associate with the word Asian? Is this different for people that live in the metro Vancouver area?
Have the perception of Asian people in Canada changed over the last 10-15 years? If so how? Has the perception of Asian people in Vancouver changed in the last 15 years in Vancouver? How about the USA?
Are different types of Asian people thought of differently? If so, how?
Threads to touch on in debrief
Filipino Canadian experience and economic exploitation in the TFW program