King, Martin Luther, Jr

GCSE Religious Studies (Philosophy & Ethics)

Discrimination has been defined as the unequal treatment of equals. Discrimination is expressed in overt behaviour, while prejudice is expressed in attitude.

Ethnic discrimination in this country is closely related to historical patterns of immigration and migration, particularly in the flow of newcomers to northern cities. Immigrants to the cities have, as groups, tended to occupy the lowest social and economic level.

During the last thirty years efforts to combat racial discrimination have figured prominently in our history. The civil rights movement of the 1950s and 1960s won the passage of important legislation; decisions of the Supreme Court and regulations of federal agencies have contributed greatly to fighting discrimination, yet it is obvious that a great deal more needs to be done.

Martin Luther King was a black American who grew up in a country, in the 1930’s, where black people were treated very much as second class citizens. Many lived in dreadful conditions and were exploited by their white employers. They were also discriminated against in the areas of public transport, employment and shopping.

In the 1950’s and 1960’s black people began to find their voice and protest against such injustices. There were riots in several cities, which had large black populations. Things were in grave danger of getting out of hand when the Reverend Martin Luther King began to teach his fellow blacks that there was another way.

He organized: ‘Bus boycotts’. Black people refused to use public busses unless they were desegregated (black and white people allowed to sit side by side). In 1956, a law was passed making racial segregation on America’s busses illegal.

Boycotts of cafés, restaurants and schools, which followed policies of segregation (separate seats and areas for blacks and whites).

‘Freedom marches’ across America. In 1960 he led one such march on Washington where 250,000 demonstrators demanded that black people be given the right to vote. On these marches black and white people marched together.

In April, 1968 Martin Luther King was shot dead by a white man while he was in a hotel in Memphis, Tennessee. He was just 39 years old.

Born in India Mahatma Gandhi, a Hindu spent much of his early life in South Africa. He was outraged by the injustices of the system that he found there. This was in the time well before apartheid was officially introduced. When Gandhi returned home to India it was to a to a country occupied and governed by the British. Gandhi taught the people that they should ...

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In April, 1968 Martin Luther King was shot dead by a white man while he was in a hotel in Memphis, Tennessee. He was just 39 years old.

Born in India Mahatma Gandhi, a Hindu spent much of his early life in South Africa. He was outraged by the injustices of the system that he found there. This was in the time well before apartheid was officially introduced. When Gandhi returned home to India it was to a to a country occupied and governed by the British. Gandhi taught the people that they should be free to govern themselves since that was a basic human right. At the same time it would be immoral and impractical to attempt to remove the British by force. Instead, he developed a very effective policy of cooperation and non-violent protest. He organised large unarmed protest marches as well as going on a hunger strike himself. The British Army had no answer to this policy. In 1947 the British left India, which soon became an independent country. Only a year later, Gandhi was assassinated.

Anne Frank was born in 1929 in Frankfurt am Main in Germany. In 1933, the anti-Jewish National Socialist Party led by Hitler comes to power. Anne Frank's Jewish parents Edith and Otto Frank perceive that there is no future in Germany for themselves and their children. They flee to the Netherlands in 1933. Anne is then four years old. Until she is eleven she grows up without a care in relatively safer Holland. In 1940, the Netherlands is occupied by Germany and the protection that Holland provides comes to an end.

Anne's life is increasingly restricted by the anti-Jewish Decrees. In 1942 the deportations to the "work camps" begin. Anne's parents see the possibility of going into hiding in the annex of the building that houses Otto's business. Anne writes her diary during the two years in hiding in the Secret Annex. In August 1944, the people in hiding are arrested and deported. Via the transit camp Westerbork and then Auschwitz, Anne goes to Bergen-Belsen concentration camp. She dies there in March 1945.

August 4, 1941: In the hell of Auschwitz death camp a Polish priest named Maxmillan Kolbe offered to die in place of a young soldier selected at random for being shot because one of the prisoners had escaped.

"He is young and has a family. I am a Catholic priest. I am alone. I will die in his place."

The soldier said later: “Our farewell was nothing. We could not speak to each other. We just looked into one another's eyes for a long moment,"

Exactly 41 years after his death Kolbe was canonised by the Pope.

"Greater love than this no one has, that one lay down his life for his friends." (Gospel of St. John)

What is bullying?

Bullying can mean many different things. These are some ways children and young people have described bullying:

being called names
being teased
being pushed or pulled about
being hit or attacked
having your bag and other possessions taken and thrown around
having rumours spread about you
being ignored and left out
being forced to hand over money or possessions
being attacked because of your religion or colour

Why do bullies do it?

They have their own problems - they may feel upset or angry or feel that they don't fit in - perhaps they have problems at home?
Maybe they get bullied themselves, perhaps by someone in their own family or other adults?
They're scared of getting picked on so they do it first
They want to show off and seem tough
Many don't like themselves and so take it out on someone else

What does it feel like to be bullied?

Bullying hurts. It makes you scared and upset. It can make you so worried that you can't work well at school. Some children have told us they have skipped school to get away from it. It can make you feel that you are no good, that there is something wrong with you. Bullies can make you feel that it's your fault.

How to stop the bullying

If you are being bullied, you can do something about it.

You can make a difference!

TELL, TELL, TELL
Practise what you want to say
Keep a note or diary of what is happening
Don't give up
Ask your parents to visit the school

Talk over what to do with a friend, a teacher, your mum or dad or someone you trust
Remember that teachers have to listen carefully when a child tells them about being bullied.

Remember - it's right to tell an adult that you are being bullied and to ask for their help. But you don't have to let them take over. You can talk with them about what you would like to happen.

"Bullying is just part of growing up..."
It isn't. You don't have to put up with it. Adults don't put up with being hit and shouted out when they go to work. You shouldn't have to, either.

"If you hit back, you won't get bullied again..."
Don't believe it. It may work sometimes, but it is just as likely to make things worse.

"Only victims get bullied..."
It is not true that some people are more likely to be bullied than others. Although some people are bullied because they may be different in some way (they have a disability, are from another country, or speak with a different accent), many other children are bullied without any obvious reason. Don't forget that bullies have sometimes been bullied themselves.

Ageism is:

Discrimination based on chronological age.
The ides that people cease to be persons by virtue of having lived a specific number of years.
The use of age to define capability and roles.
A process of systematic stereotyping of and discrimination against people just because they are old.
To be told "you're too old" is as disheartening as to be told, "You're too young;" both statements make you a stereotype when in fact you are an individual.

How to identify ageists:

The Pretenders - These are misguided older folks who believe that age is "all in your head."

The Discriminators - Some of their best friends are old, so how could they be ageist? However, they are quick to point out the realistic limitations of older applicants to jobs in their sphere of influence.

The Exceptionalists - These elders consider themselves the fortunate exceptions to society's negative view of old people. While they think of themselves as vigorous, productive and useful to society, they imagine most of their peers to be in bad shape, useless and boring.

The Colonialists - This type is frequently found among politicians, and is not all rare in the ageism establishment. They may easily be identified because they always preface any word for the aging with a possessive pronoun, such as "OUR senior citizens" or "MY elderly."

The Patronizers - This garden variety is commonly found in senior programs. To them, the old are just delightful when in "their place," and like children, should be catered to and played with.

These are just a few types of ageists. You can most likely add your own list.

The hardest step to accept:

We are ALL ageist.

Whether we're young, middle-aged or old, whether we've taken courses in gerontology or not, whether we think we're immune or too well-meaning to be afflicted, we are all ageists.

We're ageist because the society we live in is permeated with ageism. We can no more escape it than we can the chemicals in our food - or sexism or racism for that matter. But at least in the case of the other two social diseases, there's been some progress, and some serious efforts to combat them.

Ageism, by comparison, has been analysed very little and manifests itself in variations with hardly a challenge.

What you can do to help stamp out ageism:

Quit complimenting people on how young they look.
Promote intergenerational job sharing, part-time hours, and no hiring or retirement according to a plan based on chronological age.
Try not to blame old age for fatigue or disorganization or forgetfulness. In our youth we blame poor planning, lack of sleep, and bad memory.
Criticize your local news media when a headline or cartoon is offensive.
When selecting a birthday card, keep your sense of humour. Just learn the difference between laughing WITH rather than laughing AT.
Fight ageism with two important weapons - knowledge and a willingness to approach every person, regardless of age, as an individual with unique strengths, weaknesses, options, and opportunities.

I don’t agree with prejudice at all, because you cant choose your appearance, or background. I agree with all of the religions on the prejudice front because they all disagree with prejudice. Every religion teaches something along the lines of everyone is equal and there is only one God.

In the current affairs there was an attack on the W.T.C. this goes all the way back to the holocaust. In the holocaust, an estimated 6 million Jews were killed. When American and British troops discovered the concentration camps they decided to put a stop to the genocide, therefore America decided to segregate the Jews from the Nazis and took over Israel and handed it over to the Jews.