See also: Southern Poverty Law Center
Founded in 1991 as a project of the Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC), Teaching
Tolerance
(TT) works to “foster
school environments that are inclusive and nurturing,” and to help
teachers “prepare a new generation to live in a diverse world.” Toward these ends, TT produces a plethora of multimedia teaching
kits,
online curricula, and professional-development resources for
classroom instructors, as well as a biannual publication,
Teaching
Tolerance
magazine, which reaches
more than 450,000 educators nationwide. All
of these materials are made available to educators at no cost.
TT's lesson plans
contain numerous reading materials and suggested classroom activities designed
to steer K-12 students toward the conclusion that America is an
inequitable, racist and sexist society. For example:
*
A
series of lessons titled “Issues
of Poverty”
emphasize that “poverty is systemic, rooted in [capitalist]
economics, politics and discrimination.”
* “Sexism:
From Identification to Activism”
is designed to make students aware of the many “ways in which
sexism manifests in personal and institutional beliefs, behaviors,
use of language, and policies.”
* “Visualizing
School Equity”
teaches that “unequal funding systems have concentrated students of
color into underfunded, under-equipped institutions that some critics
call 'apartheid schools.'”
* “Test
Yourself for Hidden Bias” urges students to “examine” their
own “unconscious,
or automatic, biases” as “an important step in understanding the
roots of stereotypes and prejudice in our society.”
*
“Six
Lessons from Jena” emphasizes the prevalence of white racism in
American culture, and of discrimination in the juvenile-justice
system.
*
“Recognizing
the Undocumented”
features
“activities that will make students aware of the roles that
undocumented immigrants play in the harvest and processing of food
and other necessary products … and appreciate the importance of
human rights.”
*
“The
Immigration Debate”
requires students to read a commentary by SPLC legal director Mary
Bauer, encouraging them “to take a hard look at the harm and
devastation done to people of Alabama because of the state’s
anti-immigrant legislation.”
*
“Introducing
Kids to the Idea of Environmental Racism”
teaches that “communities of color are more likely to bear the
brunt of environmental hazards than are white communities.”
*
“Economic
Injustice Affects Us All”
introduces students to the strikes and boycotts that the socialist
labor activists Cesar Chavez
and Dolores Huerta led against grape growers in California. After being thoroughly
indoctrinated in the “injustice” of “income disparity,”
students are directed to strike a blow for “economic justice” by
creating various art projects that visually illustrate pay
differences between executives and low-level employees.
*
“Thanksgiving
Mourning”
teaches that Native Americans, because of “the
racism and oppression” they have had to endure
ever since Europeans arrived in the New World, often view
Thanksgiving
only as “a
reminder of the genocide of millions of their people, the theft of
their lands, and the relentless assault on their culture.”
*
“Female
Identity and Gender Expectations” is a series of lessons that
challenge “gender stereotypes” and examine “barriers
that limit girls’ and women’s opportunities.”
The Spring 1998 edition of Teaching Tolerance magazine featured an interview with former Weather Underground leader Bill Ayers, under the title "An Unconditional Embrace." In the prologue to that interview, Ayers, who had become a professor of education at the University of Illinois at Chicago, was described variously as "a highly respected figure in the field of multicultural education"; a man who "has developed a rich vision of teaching that interweaves passion, responsibility and self-reflection"; a professor who "helps aspiring teachers recognize and tap the potential of every child"; and someone who believes that "challenging stereotypes and reforming inner-city schools is as much about fighting for social justice as about improving the quality of teaching and learning."