How Racist Are You? Understand Power

This is important viewing.  Discrimination has caused such hardship and sorrow and death in our world.  Establishing power and control means that others must submit and when this behaviour is allowed to continue they become more and more tyrannical.  As we lose democracy, checks and balances then tyranny will feel the void. It is very important to understand this behaviour at this time.  We see discrimination every day, we do it ourselves whenever we divide from someone.  I’ve seen it in me, but today I am very aware and I am changing myself to look at people and stand more in their shoes.

When I clowned on the streets, I felt no fear as I was full of love.  I realised that love was the real world and fear created the world you and I see, the latter is not real.  When I taught peace to children as a World Peace Clown I divided the class by eye colour and made out that only blue eyed children could be clowns.  I played Chinese whispers with the kids who had blue eyes and made the other kids (brown, green eyes) stay to the side and say nothing.  They were not happy.  But what came out of it was the ‘inside’ group and the ‘outside’ group.  How it feels to be discriminated on the basis of a characteristic.  We then discussed how we could take this learning into the playground and how we change towards others.  What ideas could they come up with when they see a child alone, one disabled, unattractive, obese etc.  These were primary aged and they can powerfully change at this age when they feel discrimination.  Experiential learning is more powerful than academic, it works.