I am not a frequent watcher of Oprah anymore, but I decided to tune in yesterday for her special episode on race discussions that have happened over time on her show. There were many clips, including footage from a show that she did on the verdict of the OJ Simpson Trial. Since I was really too young to remember that, it was really powerful for me to see parts of that show.
Another series of footage she showed was from an episode on race in which the audience members (unknowingly) participated in an experiment on discrimination. The experiment was led by Jane Elliott, who first did the same experiment with her third grade class in 1968.
Jane Elliott documented her experiment on discrimination in "A Class Divided." It is streamable online from PBS. If you have never watched it, I highly recommend it. Watching it was very powerful for me and I know other people feel the same way.
I hope the spirit of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. will continue to live on in our country. I hope that years from now when my children have a day off of school to celebrate his birthday, they will understand all that he did for this country and all the people that he inspired.
"Everybody can be great, because everybody can serve."- Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.
This was really an amazing post. I shared it with my sister who is a fourth grade teacher.
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