Racism Our Canada, Now!

What is “Racism”? a belief or doctrine that inherent differences among the various human races  determine cultural or individual achievement, usually involving the idea that one's own race  is superior and has the right to rule others. http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/racism?s=t

So What Does This Mean? Think about your community... Have you witnessed racism? What was the issue? Who was involved? What have you done to stop it?

What is “Hate Crime”? Hate crimes refer to criminal incidents that have been motivated by hate towards an identifiable group. The incident may target: race, colour, national or ethnic origin, religion, sexual orientation, language, sex, age, mental or physical disability, political beliefs. http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/story/2011/06/07/hate-crimes-statscan.html

Hate Crime Statistics: According to Stats Canada, the number of hate crimes reported to Canadian police rose 42 per cent in 2009 on top of a 35 per cent increase the previous year. 54% were motivated by race or ethnicity; 29% by religion; 13% by sexual orientation. http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/story/2011/06/07/hate-crimes-statscan.html

The number of police-reported hate crimes against all racial groups rose in 2009. The largest increase involved hate crimes against Arabs or West Asians, which doubled. Black people continued to be the most commonly targeted racial group, accounting for about 38% of all racially motivated incidents. http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/story/2011/06/07/hate-crimes-statscan.html

More than half of police-reported hate crimes involved mischief offences, such as graffiti or vandalism. Rates of hate crime tended to be highest among youth and young adults for both victims and accused. Cities with the highest increase were: Ottawa, (increase of 83), Toronto (79), Kitchener-Cambridge-Waterloo (62), and Montreal (61). http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/story/2011/06/07/hate-crimes-statscan.html

But Don’t Be Discouraged! Although it may appear that racially motivated crimes are on the rise, we have come a long way in only a few decades. Consider the following newspaper advertisement from 1963. Notice the language, which words are offensive? Would any newspaper run an ad like this today? Do you consider this publication a “hate crime”?

…decide what you are willing to do to preserve racial harmony… June 4th 1963 …decide what you are willing to do to preserve racial harmony… …prevent sit-ins, mob marches, and wholesale Negro voter registration… http://www.flickr.com/photos/elycefeliz/6751093087/

http://www.flickr.com/photos/machinemade/5820450935/sizes/m/in/photostream/

Campaigning against racism! Your Pecha Kuchas will be displayed on the schools message screens! Campaigning against racism! Your mission is to create a Pecha Kucha with the message – WE MUST END RACISM!

What is a Pecha Kucha? What is PechaKucha 20x20 ? PechaKucha 20x20 is a simple presentation format where you show 20 images, each for 20 seconds. The images forward automatically and are set to music. Why invent this format ? Give a microphone and some images to anyone creative and they'll go on forever! Give powerpoint to anyone else and they have the same problem. http://www.pecha-kucha.org/what

Pecha Kucha Criteria: You will work in your literature circle groups of four, you will each be responsible for five slides (total of 20 slides). One slide will feature one of the two poems you have written in the previous classes about racism and advocacy. One slide will consist of a wordle word cloud with a positive, anti-racism message. Two slides will display images about racism and advocating against it. All images will come from the ‘creative commons’ domain of www.flickr.com. It will be set to music which will come from www.freesoundtrackmusic.com/