Hate Speech in Schools

Duration: Sixty to ninety minutes

Grades: Suitable for teachers, professional development, and students in grades six to twelve.

This program addresses the rise of hate speech and symbols in schools and communities. Focusing on the swastika, the program discusses the Nazi party’s use of that symbol during the Holocaust and white supremacist’s use of the swastika today. Working with the Pyramid of Hate, the program looks at how hate never ends with words and symbols, but rather how words and symbols are the beginning of a process that, if not confronted, can lead to violence, social upheaval, and ultimately genocide. This program challenges participants to look at how hate symbols and speech are confronted in their own communities and to consider the important role that they can play by speaking out.

Note: this program can be adapted to discuss other forms of hate speech and symbols, such as racial slurs, the noose, the Confederate Flag, and others.