Human Rights Education

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LESSON PLAN


Lesson 6
Racial Discrimination and the Death Penalty

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Materials:

Lesson 6 Handout
"US Constitution and Racial Discrimination"
"The Death Penalty in Georgia: Racist, Arbitrary, and Unfair"


Time: 1 class period


Overview:


Objective: Students will become familiar with the role that race plays in death penalty cases.


Procedure:

  1. Handout the "Lesson 6 Handout", "US Constitution and Racial Discrimination," and "The Death Penalty in Georgia: Racist, Arbitrary, and Unfair". Allow students time to read the documents.
  2. Ask students to take out a piece of paper and tell students to finish this sentence:
    "When I think of racism, I think of..."
  3. Discuss the following questions.
    • What does racism mean to you? What past thoughts, feelings, or experiences contributed to your present perspective on racism?
    • How does racism violate your human rights?
    • What are some causes of racism?
    • How do stereotypes contribute to racism?
    • How does racism affect the community? How does it affect the individual?
    • Have you ever witnessed racism? If you feel comfortable, relate the story to the class.
    • Although some people look to their race as being a part of their identity, some people identify with their religion or nationality, and still others identify with their ethnicity or sexual orientation. Is racism different from other forms of discrimination, such as homophobia? What role does identity have in discrimination and racism?
    • Is there a solution for racism and discrimination in the criminal justice system?
    • What are examples of racism in a systemic context?
    • How did race-based prejudice affect the case of Wilburn Dobbs?
  4. Have students trade their 'sentence finishing exercises' and have them comment on one another's. Tell each student to write his or her own thoughts about the other person's sentence finishing exercise and allow each pair of students 5 minutes to explain their differing or similar view to each other.

Homework:

Ask students to read the Preamble of the Convention on Racism in detail. Tell them to summarize or paraphrase each paragraph and then comment on it. For example, a comment on paragraph 1 would be noting that the entire Convention is written within the context of human rights.