by: Oren Segal February 25, 2015
Missouri has had long experience with white supremacists ranging from neo-Nazis to the Ku Klux Klan, but in recent years a new threat has emerged in the Show Me state: white supremacist prison gangs. Some states have been plagued by such gangs for years, but until recently, Missouri had only a limited experience with them.
Now, however, there are a number of white supremacist gangs active in Missouri, typically emerging in prisons and…
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by: Lorraine Array January 22, 2015 "After Auschwitz, the human condition is not the same, nothing will be the same."
- Elie Wiesel
January 27th marks the 70th anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz Birkenau Concentration Camp by the Russian army at the end of World War II. For those who were able to survive the horrors of Auschwitz, finally hearing the words “We’re free! We’re free!” echoing across the camp barracks must have seemed…
Martin Luther King, Jr. Day is Monday, January 16, and many educators will take the opportunity to teach about King and his enormous contributions to our society. As educators, how we approach the teaching of this holiday makes an impact on how students understand the larger context of the Civil Rights Movement and whether they make a connection between the past struggles to the current day and their own lives. Here are some thoughts about teaching the topic in a meaningful way…
by: Oren Segal December 17, 2014 Malala. Ferguson. Immigration. Ebola. Voter ID Laws. Climate Change. These are just a few of the topics teachers are regularly and actively bringing into their classrooms.
Whether they teach English, Social Studies, Advisory or another subject and whether they have five minutes or decide to do a week- long study, teachers know that topics in the news will engage and interest students in a deep and meaningful way. Research…
by: Oren Segal December 05, 2014 In the wake of two grand jury decisions—in Ferguson, MO and Staten Island, NY—not to indict the police officers who were involved in the killing of black men, the time has come to ask ourselves: Where do we go from here? There are a myriad of ideas and legislation on the table--diversity training for the police, funding to provide body cameras for police officers and legislation to tighten standards on military-style equipment for local police…
December 02, 2014 His Excellency Luis Leonardo Almagro Minister of Foreign Affairs Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Oriental Republic of Uruguay Palacio Santos: 18 de Julio 1205 Edificio: Colonia 1206 Montevideo, Uruguay Dear Mr. Foreign Minister:
We write to express our sincere appreciation regarding the statement issued on November 18, 2014, in which Uruguay strongly condemned the brutal terrorist attack inside a synagogue in the Har Nof neighborhood in Jerusalem, killing four Jews at…
October 23, 2014 Dear Mr. Prime Minister: We are writing to extend our strong support to the government and people of Canada following yesterday's terrorist attack on Parliament Hill. We express our condolences to the family of Cpl. Nathan Cirillo.
As you noted in your national address, unfortunately, this attack, along with the earlier incident in Montreal, demonstrate that Canada is not immune from the extremism and terrorism afflicting the globe.
We stand with you in solidarity in your…
by: Oren Segal July 29, 2014 If you have been reviewing any number of parenting or education blogs lately, you’ll see headlines proclaiming the menace and dangers of technology. Technology, and more specifically, social media and mobile apps are often treated like “monsters” to guard against and the creators of all matter of social ills. Even if technology is scary and daunting to some adults, for youth it is a necessary and positive part of life. In…
July 22, 2014 The Honorable Ban Ki-Moon Secretary General United Nations
Dear Mr. Secretary General,
We were surprised by the uncharacteristically harsh and one-sided tenor and content of the remarks you made to the press during your visit to Doha on Sunday.
One cannot fail to feel pain and anguish one feels for the suffering befalling the people of Gaza. Yet, at a time when morally responsible leaders are asking "What kind of human being indiscriminately fires thousands of…
July 18, 2014 Mr. Leonardo Jmelnitzky
President
Asociación Mutual Israelita Argentina (AMIA)
Pasteur 633 (C1028 AMM)
Buenos Aires
Argentina
Dear Mr. Jmelnitzky:
As the twentieth anniversary of the terrorist attack on the Jewish community's AMIA-DAIA building in Buenos Aires, Argentina approaches, we once again express our solidarity with the Argentinean Jewish community and remember the eighty-five innocent victims who lost their lives and the hundreds of others…
July 18, 2014 Her Excellency Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner
President of the Argentine Republic
Balcarce 50, CP 1064
Ciudad Autónoma de Buenos Aires
Argentina
Dear Madam President:
On the twentieth anniversary of the July 18, 1994 terrorist bombing of the AMIA-DAIA building in Buenos Aires, we once again recall the 85 innocent Argentinian victims who died tragically and the hundreds who were wounded on that day.
Madam President, we appreciate your…
by: Mark Onofrio March 17, 2014 A teacher raises his hand in A World of Difference® Institute training and says, "I like to kid around with my students." He says, "I like to have fun in my class so they are more likely to come to me when they need help."
He calls one student his “favorite Mexican,” another student “Dopey” and the only African-American student “MLK” (short for Martin Luther King Jr.) This well-intentioned…
by: Oren Segal February 26, 2014
It happened again. College students dressed up like members of a “culture” for a stereotyped theme party.
In the most recent example, sorority students at Columbia University were photographed wearing sombreros, thick mustaches, ponchos and holding maracas. They also portrayed other nationalities. What’s worse is that these types of parties are not anomalies, but common occurrences on college campuses.
African-themed…
February 21, 2014 Daniel W. Jones, M.D. Chancellor The University of Mississippi Dear Chancellor Jones:
We are writing to express our deep concern about the recent incident at the University of Mississippi in which two unidentified men placed a noose around the neck of the statue of James Meredith, the school’s first black student. There have reportedly been other recent incidences of troubling acts of homophobia and racism.
College is a unique and special time in a young person…
by: Mark Onofrio February 07, 2014 Criticism of immigrant policy is not an excuse to undermine the humanity of others with the kind of vitriol that dominated the internet, especially Twitter, after the Atlanta-based Coca Cola Company aired a commercial with “America the Beautiful,” sung in different languages and featuring a diversity of people during the Super Bowl.
The term immigrant is a descriptor, not a slur. However, it is often used in a pejorative way. For those who are…
by: Mark Onofrio January 31, 2014 The Super Bowl is arguably one of the biggest days in American sports, and with good reason. In addition to being a competition of the best two football teams in the most popular sport in America, this year it is also the kind of celebration not often associated with professional sports.
Derrick Coleman, a running back for the Seattle Seahawks, is the only legally deaf athlete in professional football history to play offense. In early January 2014, Coleman…
by: Mark Onofrio January 24, 2014 We recently had a reminder of the enduring power of stereotypes in American when an interview by Seattle Seahawks cornerback Richard Sherman prompted a slew of racist remarks on Twitter and a mainstream media commentator referred to him as a “thug” and an “ape.”
While perhaps unintentional on the part of media commentators, the…
January 21, 2014
The phrase "that’s so gay" has persisted as a way for students to describe things they do not like, find annoying or generally want to put down, while it is promising that fewer students are hearing homophobic slurs than in previous years.
The phrase is used so commonly that many students no longer recognize it as homophobic because it is “what everyone says.” When educators and other adults intervene, common student responses include “I was just…
by: Mark Onofrio January 13, 2014 Five Tips for Working with Children, Tweens and Teens
As we honor Martin Luther King Jr.’s legacy through the National Day of Service, we encourage teachers, parents and families to provide community service opportunities for children and youth. Below are tips to help make the experience meaningful.
“Everybody can be great...because anybody can serve. You don't have to have a college degree to…
by: Mark Onofrio January 07, 2014 Youth are the real experts on what is happening in bullying on school campuses, and yet their voices, perspectives and leadership are rarely integrated into bullying prevention programs.
“Just ask the kids” is the tagline for a new book highlighting research from the Youth Voice Project, the first large-scale research project on bullying and peer mistreatment that did exactly that—ask the kids (more than 13,000 teens in 31 schools). …