Lesson 9: Stopping the Spread of Hate

Rationale
In this lesson, students will explore how bias, if left unchecked, can escalate into discrimination and violence. In the process, students will begin to understand the vocabulary of hate.

Materials
Chart paper or construction paper and markers

Procedures
• On the left-hand side of an overhead transparency, handout, or piece of chart paper, write the following words: Stereotype; prejudice; scapegoat; discrimination; violence; and genocide. Down the other side, write the following statements:
(1) The gay community is often blamed for AIDS.
(2) In 1997, the FBI documented 8,049 hate crimes based on race, religion, ethnicity, sexual orientation, or gender.
(3) During World War II, German Nazis killed six million Jews and others to protect the so-called "Aryan Race."
(4) Employers often do not hire people whose native language is not English.
(5) People often refer to Asian Americans as the model minority.
(6) Fashion magazines rarely photograph overweight people positively.

• Ask students to read the words, think about what they mean, then match the examples to the terms. [Answer key: 1-scapegoat; 2-violence; 3-genocide; 4-discrimination; 5-stereotype; 6-prejudice]
• Ask students if more than one word could be applied to some of the statements. Give examples.
• On a large piece of chart paper, draw a triangle and divide it into four sections. Starting at the top of the pyramid, label each one of the sections: Genocide, Violence and Hate Crimes, Discrimination and Stereotyping, Prejudice and Scapegoating. Explain to students that this diagram is called the "Pyramid of Hate." It demonstrates how hate can escalate if left unchecked.
• Assign students to small groups. Give each group a large piece of construction paper or a piece of chart paper and markers. Explain that students are to work together in small groups to develop a definition, as well as examples, for each level of the pyramid.
• Afterward, display the pyramids and discuss the exercise with the entire class, using some or all of these questions: Why do you think the pyramid is a good symbol for the way hate escalates? Can you think of another symbol, shape, or structure that could be used instead of a pyramid? What factors must be in place for hate to escalate? Why is it important to challenge acts of bias, bigotry, and hatred? What can individuals do to stop hate from spreading? What can communities do? What is the cost to the individual who does not act to challenge hate? What is the cost to the victims of hate? What is the result for society?

Extension Activities
• Post a large "Pyramid of Hate" in the classroom. As students read newspaper, magazine, or Internet stories about prejudice and hate, they can attach the stories to the pyramid in the appropriate categories. Set aside time for a class discussion about how the events described show the escalating nature of hate. For example, the brutal deaths of Matthew Shepard in Laramie, Wyoming, and James Byrd in Jasper, Texas, did not happen without someone planting the seeds of prejudice and hatred.
• Adolescents often accept stereotypes about certain groups of people because they don1t know anyone from that group. Ask students to examine common misunderstandings about groups that are frequently subjected to prejudice — such as immigrants, elderly people, and males and females in nontraditional roles — and find evidence to dispel the stereotypes. Working in teams, students can create multimedia presentations to teach their classmates and community about misperceptions of certain people.
 

Parts of this lesson were adapted with permission from A WORLD OF DIFFERENCE ® Institute Anti-Bias Study Guide. New York, New York: Anti-Defamation League, 1998.