teaching tolerance (combating white supremacist attempts to recruit our youth)

I've been hearing that white supremacist groups are on the rise again around the country. I've tried to brush it off, but lately I'm hearing it from too many sources, and the recent passage of the anti-immigrant legislation in Arizona (among other places)--which originated from, and is backed by, white supremacist groups--has been very disturbing.

Many teachers are probably already familiar with it, but in case you are not, the "Teaching Tolerance" project of the Southern Poverty Law Center is a fantastic resource for combatting these viewpoints & preventing them from taking hold in our schools and youth.

Check out Tolerance.org, a general news and info outlet of the SPLC. You can find links such as "Ten Ways to Fight Hate," which sounds like it would be obvious but actually has a lot of really helpful ideas based in concrete past experience. On the "speak up" page, for example, you can find links telling you

• What should you say when the Klan comes to your town?
• Learn how to fight hate with the media.
• What you can do if you are the media.
• Find out how a local newspaper started a frank community discussion about race in New Orleans.

And that's just one page out of the "ten ways!"

For teachers specifically, there is Teaching Tolerance, a website where you can subscribe to the magazine, get information, and also order a stunning array of free materials including free videos, kits, lesson plans, and more. I have the Rosa Parks video, which is just excellent, and I see they have a new one I want to check out: "Mighty Times: The Children's March."

There is also a lot in the parents' section that can be useful to teachers, such as this article on helping children develop a positive self-image without denigrating others who are different. The article begins by talking about the author's attempts to help her son (both mother and child are African-American) to develop a positive self-image in contrast to the negative images of Black men he sees elsewhere in the culture; this is something i've thought about a great deal as a teacher.

This stuff specifically came to mind today because a friend sent me this article:

White women kick Neo-Nazi organizer out of [San Francisco] Coffeeshop (Monday, March 14, 2005)

I found it very inspiring, and thought-provoking too--I don't know if I would have been able to do what the two women in the article did. I try to be someone who "puts my money where my mouth is," but perhaps there's a limit to my courage.

Although, when a local store had "ask about our Arab shoplifting policy" posted in the store, I was working on organizing people to go confront the manager when the sign was removed. So maybe I'm selling myself short. When these occasions arise, and I know I have to do something, I usually just move forward without thinking too much about it. So maybe I would have done what the two women did. I don't know. Anyway their action is an inspiration.