GoPoPro Activities
Race Inquiry 2022
Compelling Question:
Is race real?
Process
To search for answers to the compelling question - Is Race Real - you are going to complete a number of multimedia activities below and then undertake an informed civic action!
A word of caution
Talking about race isn't easy. It's personal, it's political, it's visceral. It's something, in fact, that a lot of people spend a lot of time and energy not talking about. But as little as most of us talk about it, race has a titanic impact on each and every one of us. Enter into these lessons and the conversations they will spark with compassion, open ears, and lots of empathy. Say unto other! Think before you speak! And please don't ask any student to speak for all members of any race. It's fatiguing and unfair.
In an open classroom where there is discussion of sensitive topics some people shut down, others won't shut up. I don't want my class to be totally dominated by the loudest so I have a question box. At the beginning of class I ask students take a moment and write down any questions they have about race and submit them anonymously into the box. I can guide the class through any questions that are asked in good faith.
I get some great questions. I get other ones, too. Some of these questions warrant further exploration, others do not.
And one final thing. I remind my students that whenever they start a sentence with, "This might seem racist, but." it probably is, and they should think stop speaking and start thinking.
Activities
There are six activities below to help you consider race in America.
Activity 1) Who are you?
Let's start with a personal question:
What race are you?
Then we'll ask the same question about some other Americans:
What race are all the individuals below?
Image Courtesy: National Geographic
Use the grid below to fill in the race of each of the people from the photograph above:
Now go to this National Geographic interactive feature where you can click on each person in the photograph to see how they racially self-identify and how accurate your prediction was.
Was this a difficult activity?
How well did you identify the individuals in the photograph?
Does it matter what race each individual is?
Do individuals have more power over race or does race have more power over individuals?
How did this activity help you think about race?
If you'd like to try your hand at more racial identifications you can try this interactive racial sorting game.
Activity 2) Definitions
Let's start by defining our terms:
Race: ____________________________________________________
"Race," writes the great historian Nell Irvin Painter, "is an idea, not a fact." Indeed. Race does not need biology. Race only requires some good guys with big guns looking for a reason. - Ta-Nehisi Coates
And here's the tricky thing about race; both of the following statements are true:
Race is not real. Race is extremely real.
What this means is that although there is no biological basis for race, in the US, how others racially classify a person has huge implications for what kind of life they live (see charts below).
Let's start with the biological question of race. Go to the PBS website Race - The Power of an Illusion, click on What is Race? and then answer the question - Is Race for Real?
Let's watch the first portion of a Race - the Power of an Illusion - a video on the biology of race:
Watch five minutes of the introduction and list the racial myths the film exposed:
And watch this short and powerful video about the invention of whiteness.
Let's take this 20 question quiz on race created by the Association of American Colleges and Universities:
List the top 3 things you learned about race from the quiz?
List the top 3 things you unlearned about race from the quiz?
Ta-Nehisi Coates refers to White people as "people who believe they are white," What does he mean by this?
How did this activity help you think about race?
Activity 3) Does Race Matter?
Is race socially real? In other words, in the U.S. does it make a difference what race you are?
To help answer that question, look at the following charts:
What story do the charts tell?
Which chart was the most surprising or upsetting?
What big trends do you see in the charts?
In what way is the gap between Whites and Blacks the most extreme?
What do you think explains the general gap between Whites and Blacks?
Describe two consequences of this gap:
Is this all good news or bad news?
What could the government do about this?
What could you do about this?
How does this information make you feel?
Let's make an analogy. Fill in the blank. America is to Race as _______________ is to ______________ .
How did this activity help you think about race?
Activity 4) Brief History of race in America
You can do the following assignment in teams or individually. Use the links below to research the topics and answer the questions below.
History of American Discrimination and Inequality -How did each of these further discrimination?
1-White primaries, Poll tax + Literacy tests + Plessy v. Ferguson (1896)
2-Segregation + Jim Crow Laws + racial restrictive covenant
Fighting inequality -How did each of these fight discrimination?
3-Brown v. Topeka Board of Education (1954)
4-Voting Rights Act of 1965 + minority-majority districts -
5-Civil rights act of 1964 Title II and Title VII - US v. Heart of Atlanta Motel - Commerce Clause - EEOC -
6-Fair housing Act and Amendments 1968 and 1988 -
7-Affirmative action + Class action suits + University of California Regents v. Bakke (1978) + Grutter v. Bollinger (2003) and Gratz v. Bollinger (2003) -
8-Title IX and the history of Title IX -
9-Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) (1990) -
Current American Discrimination and Inequality
If a Black man and a white man are charged with the same crime, & both have a clean record: the Black man is 9 times more likely to go to jail than the white man.
If a Black man and a white man are charged with the same drug-crime, & both have a clean record: the Black man is 49 times more likely to go to jail than the white man.
Sadly, discrimination in housing continues today.
Because of continuing unequal pay for women, last year, President Obama signed the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act into Law
Here is a disturbing article from the Wall Street Journal about race and employment
Your opinion
Think about all you have read and learned in this brief history of race, think about where our country is currently in regards to discrimination and inequality, and explain whether you think the federal government has done enough, too much, or the right amount to fight US discrimination.
How did this activity help you think about race?
Activity 5) White Privilege
Scholar, Peggy McIntosh writes about ways that white people are privileged in America today. Read the list of privileges from The Invisible Backpack of White Privilege, check the number of privileges you personally receive, and consider how that number would be different for various races. Think about McIntosh's list, add any other racial privileges she might have left out, and make a top ten list of white privileges in America.
Make your own autobiographical lists of privilege, for example, about two of the following: Sexual Orientation, Employment, Families' relation to Class, Physical ability, Education, Money, Region, Handedness, Housing, Religion, Language, Neighborhoods, Gender, Nation of Origin, Families' languages of origin, Gender identity, and Ethnicity.
How did this activity help you think about race?
Activity 6) Racial demographics in the US today
So what does the US look like racially today?
Any surprises?
What does this graphic teach you about race in America today?
Look at the cool infographic below - The Changing Face of America - and answer the questions below.
Whites are no longer the majority racial group in California. ¿In what year will Whites cease to be the majority racial group in the entire US?
How accurate was your prediction?
What's the big story this chart tells?
Are these changes good news or bad news?
In what way are the changes expressed in the chart reflected in your own life?
What questions do you have about this chart?
Make a prediction for what this chart will look like in 2080 America (if there is a 2080 America):
What do you think is causing the changes reflected in the chart?
What are some consequences of the changes reflected in the chart?
In the comments section, write about how the changes reflected in the chart are affecting politics in the US today, in particular, how are these changes impacting the upcoming elections?
How did this activity help you think about race?
Activity Summary
Here's a couple of resources to inquire further about race.
Multimedia Survey - What do Blacks, Whites, and Hispanics think about each other?
Book Review - Evolution of Whiteness
NPR Audio Report - Passing Strange Review
Take the the IAT - a test to analyze your own implicit racial biases - Project Implicit
Finally, here's a list of 10 things everyone should know about race. You might want to hold onto this as a reference while you continue investigating race. Tweet the number one thing everyone should know about race to @Classroooooooms with #race
Inquiry Extension
Convene a class fishbowl on Affirmative Action.
Informed Civic Action
Now that you've completed the activities, take one of the following informed civic actions:
1)Interview someone of another race for ten minutes. Make a list of 10 questions you'd like to ask them, but don't ask any questions about race at all.
2)Make a proposal to connect people of different races in your community. Share your proposal with the local paper, mayor, city council, or community foundation. Be as specific as possible about the Big Ws: Who, What, When, Where, & Why.
3)Identify one racial problem in America that the government could take action on. Make a proposal for the 28th Amendment making a Constitutional Amendment to ameliorate one racial problem in America.
4)Identify one racial problem in your community that you could take action on. Make a proposal for one way you could ameliorate one racial problem in your life.
Further Investigation
Required watching
Required reading:
Ta-Nehisi Coates, Between The World And Me
Isabel Wilkerson, Caste - and here’s a book review of Caste.
Michele Alexander, The New Jim Crow
Kevin Boyle, Arc of Justice
Ralph Ellison, Invisible Man
Martin Luther King, Stride Toward Freedom
Joe Feagin, Racist America
Eula Biss, White Debt
Cornel West, Race Matters
Alex Haley, The Autobiography of Malcolm X
Beverly Daniel Tatum, Why are all the Black Kids Sitting Together in the Cafeteria: And Other Conversations About Race
Compelling Question:
¿Is race real?
Now that we've completed our race inquiry let's return to the compelling question that got us here: IS RACE REAL? You've got a lot of information and data to work with now that should help you give a fuller answer to our compelling question. Write your answer to the question in the comments section below. After you've commented, keep the question alive, write more about it, ask the questions to others, talk about it with friends and family, and most importantly, do something about it! Thanks for taking part in our inquiry.
Impeachment?
Impeachment?
CONVO
1-The Issue
Today’s CONVO focuses on Impeachment.
After throwing off the bonds of British tyranny, the Americans established a new country upon the principle of liberty. The genius of the U.S. Constitution was its ability to create a “Goldilocks government” strong enough to unite a nation, while constrained enough to avoid tyranny- just right. The Framers, pessimistic of human nature, created a system of free and fair elections, guaranteed Constitutional liberties, and checks and balances to limit a tyranical government. Among the many safeguards against the rule of a tyrant, one of the final checks of absolutism can be found in Article II, Section 4 of the U.S. Constitution - the ability of the U.S. Congress to impeach a President. The U.S. Congress has begun an impeachment inquiry that could result in the termination of a President. Today’s CONVO is about how impeachment works and whether you think the U.S. Congress should impeach Donald J. Trump? Join our CONVO to learn, discuss and act on this critical issue. Here’s how CONVO works.
The Big Question
How does impeachment works, and should the U.S. Congress impeach Donald J. Trump?
Related Questions to Consider
What is impeachment and how does it work?
What is the history of impeachment in the U.S.?
How democratic is impeachment?
Should other factors besides elections be used to decide on a president?
Why did the Framers bake impeachment into the U.S. Constitution?
Why did the Framers make impeachment so hard to achieve?
Do you think Trump will be impeached?
Do you think Trump should be impeached?
Add your own question in the field below:
Survey - Twitter poll
Before we learn more about this, share your opinion - take our Twitter Poll
Should Donald J. Trump be impeached?
SHOULD Donald J. Trump be impeached? 🇺🇸⁉️ #apgov #apgopo
— AP US Government (@UsGoPoPro) September 26, 2019
2-Research and Share
Use your brain to learn all about today’s critical issue with these facts, data, maps, charts, visuals, videos, and more.
What?
First some background.
Impeachment is found in Article II, Section 4 of the U.S. Constitution - the ability of the U.S. Congress to impeach a U.S. President.
Offenses that could prompt impeachment are treason, bribery or "other high crimes and misdemeanors."
The inclusion of "other high crimes and misdemeanors" gives the legislative branch flexibility to investigate an array of allegations.
One article of impeachment is drafted for each alleged offense.
In the House, if a simple majority votes in favor of impeachment, the chief justice of the Supreme Court presides over a trial in the Senate. A two-thirds majority is required to convict and remove a president from office.
Congress has conducted two presidential impeachment trials: President Andrew Johnson in 1868, for firing a cabinet secretary without the consent of Congress, and President Bill Clinton in 1998 for perjury and obstruction of justice.
Both Johnson and Clinton were acquitted, so they stayed in office.
President Richard M. Nixon faced possible impeachment on the grounds of obstruction of justice, abuse of power and contempt of Congress in relation to the Watergate scandal. He resigned in 1974, before a vote was conducted in the House of Representatives.
In addition to the presidential impeachments, Congress has carried out 17 other trials for federal officials including judges, a cabinet member and a senator.
The numbers
September 29, 2019
Article II, Section 4
The President, Vice President and all civil Officers of the United States, shall be removed from Office on Impeachment for, and Conviction of, Treason, Bribery, or other high Crimes and Misdemeanors.
Words
In Federalist No. 51, Madison wrote that the people are the best check on the government, “A dependence on the people is, no doubt, the primary control on the government;” But that since the people could be wrong, “experience has taught mankind the necessity of auxiliary precautions.” The government must be set up to stop tyranny. He wrote that, “Ambition must be made to counteract ambition.”
Ambition must be made to counteract ambition. The interest of the man must be connected with the constitutional rights of the place. It may be a reflection on human nature, that such devices should be necessary to control the abuses of government. But what is government itself, but the greatest of all reflections on human nature? If men were angels, no government would be necessary. If angels were to govern men, neither external nor internal controls on government would be necessary. In framing a government which is to be administered by men over men, the great difficulty lies in this: you must first enable the government to control the governed; and in the next place oblige it to control itself.
Elite Opinion
Impeach
Why I Changed My Mind About Impeachment - By David Leonhardt on September 24, 2019 in The New York Times
Impeach Donald Trump - By Yoni Appelbaum March 2019 Issue* of The Atlantic.
Don’t Impeach
The Impeachment Congress - by The. Editorial Board on September 24, 2019 in The Wall Street Journal
Impeaching Trump On Russia Was Unpopular. Will Ukraine Be Different? - By Nate Silver on Sep. 24, 2019 on FiveThirtyEight
Now share your thoughts on our Convo Forum
Check out the Convo Forum Template to get an idea of how this works.
Then open the Convo Forum Impeachment, make a copy for each of your classes, then have your students fill in their class forum.
Practice
3- Listen and Discuss
Use Your Ears and Join us as we Listen and Discuss today’s critical issue.
Students discuss the topic in a setting that maximizes listening.
4-Write
Use Your Words
Students write a post-discussion Editorial about the topic to persuade the reader of their position. Students must use and name at least one source from the forum in their editorial.
5-Act
Do Something
Students act on what they have learned about the topic. Students can work alone or in teams to turn their learning into action. Here is a list of Critical Actions students can take.
How Democratic is the U.S. Senate?
How Democratic is the U.S. Senate?
CONVO
1-The Issue
Today’s CONVO focuses on the U.S. Senate.
Democracy is based on the proposition that all people are created equal and deserve the same political rights. But does the U.S. Senate deliver on the democratic promise? Today’s CONVO is about how democratic the U.S. Senate is and what we should do about that. Join our CONVO to learn, discuss and act on this critical issue. Here’s how CONVO works.
The Big Question
How democratic is the U.S. Senate, and what should we do about that?
Related Questions to Consider
What is democracy, anyway?
Should other factors besides democracy be considered when constructing a political system?
Did the Framers value democracy and if so, why didn’t they use the word in the Constitution?
Was the Senate set up to be democratic in the first place?
Who does the current composition of the Senate most benefit and whom does it most hurt?
What would be the best way to change the Senate to make it more democratic?
Would it be Constitutional to alter the Senate?
Add your own question in the field below:
Student Questions in English Turkish translation
1-Why was the Senate even created, anyway? 1-Zaten Senato neden yaratıldı?
2-And how democratic is our entire political system either? 2-Siyasi sistemimiz ne kadar demokratiktir?
3-Why the heck are you translating into Turkish? 3-Neden halt türkçeye çeviri yapıyorsunuz?
4- Do you really think this is funny, troll! 4- Bunun gerçekten komik olduğunu düşünüyor musunuz, troll!
Survey - Twitter poll
Before we learn more about this, share your opinion - take our Twitter Poll
Is the U.S. Senate democratic?
Is the U.S. Senate democratic?
— AP US Government (@UsGoPoPro) February 13, 2019
Tell us what you think and then join us in our Senate CONVO! https://t.co/p5LepWrWl6 #apgov #apgopo #hsgovchat @MCMartirone @RAPLewis @vicpasquantonio @Caro_Thompson @MrW_THS
2-Research and Share
Use your brain to learn all about today’s critical issue with these facts, data, maps, charts, visuals, videos, and more.
What?
First some background.
The Senate was created at the Constitutional Convention of 1787 as a part of the “Great Compromise.”
The United States did not always have a bicameral legislature (two chambers: the House and the Senate) Initially, the Founding Fathers, or “framers” of the U.S. Constitution, drafted a document called the Articles of Confederation, which was written in 1777 and ratified in 1781. The Articles established a unicameral Congress and the Supreme Court, but no Office of the President. What the what!?!
This original Congress was made up of members elected by each of the states, which were represented equally. Thus small states like Delaware had the same representation as large states like New York. Way? Way!
Undecided, at the Philadelphia Convention was how the Congress would be composed (unicameral, bicameral) and how it would be apportioned (based on the population, or simple the same for each state). Small states like Rhode Island feared they would be overwhelmed by the voting power of large states like Virginia, and demanded a Senate in return for ratification. The small states essentially held the Constituiton hostage over their demand for equal representation for all states (not people). This seems very undemocratic, at the same time, had the Senate not been added to the Constitution, we would not have a United States of America. You can read more about the history of the U.S. Senate. The Senate was not created to be democratic -quite the opposite; and this undemocratic legacy remains with us today.
the numbers
The U.S. Constitution created the United States Senate with equal representation — two senators — from each of the country’s states, despite the wide variation in population from state to state. Fair or not, throughout the country’s history the Senate typically passed legislation, nominations, and other matters with broad support. Most votes passed with around 68% of senators voting yes, with those senators representing about 68% of the U.S. population. If the allotment of senators was unfair in principle, it seems to have been fair in practice.
But 2017 was an unprecedented year. In 2017, for the first time, the Senate’s decisions were often made by a coalition of states representing less than half of the country’s population. The median share of senators supporting passed bills, confirmed judges and agency leaders, and other matters dropped to 58% (the lowest since 1930), with those senators representing just 49.5% of the U.S. population (the lowest ever)!
The 17th Amendment
The 17th Amendment made the Senate more democratic by allowing for the direct election of Senators by the people of each state.
Words
A voter in Wyoming enjoys roughly 70 times more influence in the Senate as a voter in California, which sounds like the most unfair statistic in American politics, until you remember that taxpaying U.S. citizens in Washington, D.C. and Puerto Rico still have no influence in the Senate at all.
When the Constitution was first adopted, the largest state had fewer than 10 times the voters per senator as the smallest; now, that ratio is 72.
A slight majority of Americans live in just nine states. They have 18 votes in the Senate, while the minority holds 82 seats.
More to the point, it would be very strange indeed if there weren't a gap between Senate vote shares and seat shares. The Senate was purposefully set up as an anti-democratic institution meant to privilege the voices of Connecticut residents above those in, say, New York. That was what small states' representatives demanded at the Constitutional Convention in 1787, and it's what they got, over the opposition of those like Alexander Hamilton and James Madison who thought that giving each state the same number of votes was hideously unfair. Moreover, until 1913, the Senate wasn't even popularly elected.
Again, from The Federalist No. 22:
Every idea of proportion and every rule of fair representation conspire to condemn a principle, which gives to Rhode Island an equal weight in the scale of power with Massachusetts, or Connecticut, or New York; and to Delaware an equal voice in the national deliberations with Pennsylvania, or Virginia, or North Carolina. Its operation contradicts the fundamental maxim of republican government, which requires that the sense of the majority should prevail. Sophistry may reply, that sovereigns are equal, and that a majority of the votes of the States will be a majority of confederated America. But this kind of logical legerdemain will never counteract the plain suggestions of justice and common-sense. It may happen that this majority of States is a small minority of the people of America; and two thirds of the people of America could not long be persuaded, upon the credit of artificial distinctions and syllogistic subtleties, to submit their interests to the management and disposal of one third.
Hamilton hated—hated—the compromise under which the Constitutional Convention was blackmailed into giving every state the same number of senators regardless of population. In the essay quoted above, he is ostensibly railing against the Articles of Confederation. Obviously, though, his argument would apply with equal force to Article I, Section 3 of the Constitution that he, James Madison, and John Jay were madly scribbling in defense of.
The Constitution
Now share your thoughts on our Convo Forum
Check out the Convo Forum Template to get an idea of how this works.
Then open the Convo Forum Senate, make a copy for each of your classes, then have your students fill in their class forum.
Elite Opinion
Don’t Change the Senate
The Senate is Not Undemocratic - By Jonah Goldberg on October 17, 2018 in National Review Online
Liberals who complain that the Senate is undemocratic are really just whining about California - By Jonah Goldberg on October 16, 2018 in the LA Times.
Change the Senate
The Case for Abolishing the Senate - By Jay Wills on October 16, 2018 in GQ
The Senate is undemocratic and it matters - By Dylan Matthews on January 6, 2015 in Vox
You Can’t Change the Senate
Revamping the Senate Is a Fantasy - By Noah Feldman on October 10, 2018 in Bloomberg
Practice
3- Listen and Discuss
Use Your Ears and Join us as we Listen and Discuss today’s critical issue.
Students discuss the topic in a setting that maximizes listening.
4-Write
Use Your Words
Students write a post-discussion Editorial about the topic to persuade the reader of their position. Students must use and name at least one source from the forum in their editorial.
5-Act
Do Something
Students act on what they have learned about the topic. Students can work alone or in teams to turn their learning into action. Here is a list of Critical Actions students can take.