A few years ago I took a chance with my class of nine to twelve year old students with Autism. It was the week before Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Day and we had read books, watched movie clips, and done all the "equality" crossword puzzles I could find to learn about Dr. King's work. I knew, being literal thinkers, my students didn't really understand what Dr. King was fighting for. When we discussed Dr. King, I got the same response "We should be nice to each other." They didn't comprehend that people were actually restricted from places, activities, and opportunities because of the color of their skin. I knew I would have to find a new way to reach them.
After lunch, we were scheduled to play board games, a time I use to incorporate turn taking, conversation, and negotiation skills. This time would be different. I handed out purple and green stickers and instructed students to put them on their shirts. They said "Thanks, Ms. Cerbasi" and got up to choose a game. I asked everyone to sit down.
"Today the rules for game time will be different," I began. "If you have a purple sticker, you can choose any game you want. You can sit at any table you want but you can only play with someone wearing a purple sticker." The purple sticker group went on their way. "Orange stickers. You cannot play games today. You must sit at your desks."
"But Ms. Cerbasi! I want to play a game! That's not fair!"
I let the orange sticker group express their disbelief at my rule. The purple sticker group stopped what they were doing and looked at their peers. They all looked at me to see what I would do. I could see they were confused and nervous about this change of routine.
"Everyone sit down and listen. Today I changed the rules because I wanted you to learn about Dr. King. People with purple stickers, how did you feel when I told you that you could play any game?" They told me they were happy and excited.
"People with orange stickers, how did you feel when I said you could not play a game at all?" I heard the words angry, sad, and unfair.
"That's right. It is not fair that people with purple stickers can do whatever they want and people with orange stickers could not play a game at all. Everyone should be allowed to play games together."
I wasn't sure how to phrase the next question so they would make the connection between our experiment in class with discrimination.
"Think about how the purple and orange groups were separate. Think about how some people were allowed to play games and some people were not. What do you think happened many years ago before Dr. King talked about being fair to everyone? Why is it so important that Dr. King said he wanted everyone to be able to work and play together?"
The room was quiet for a minute until one little boy raised his hand.
"Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. didn't care if your skin was brown or white. He wanted everyone to go to the same places and to do the same things. He said you shouldn't be mean to someone just 'cause their skin is brown, like me."
He hung his head and tears filled his eyes.
"You're right. And one thing that is really good about Dr. King's work is that now we can all work together in our classroom and it doesn't matter what color your skin is."
A smile spread across his face. The children in my class began to put their arms next to each other and compare their skin color. They talked about the differences in skin color, hair color, eye color, age, and gender they saw among themselves. They talked about places they could go and things they could do together, regardless of what they looked like.
Clearly, the depth of our social experiment was surface level and did not illustrate the extent of the mistreatment people suffered, but in our small classroom community, with our own rules, my students understood that it is unacceptable to treat people differently because of what they look like, what they have, or where they come from.
Tutor's Tips: This holiday is not a day for children to sleep late and play video games. Make sure the lesson of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr's work impacts your children today.
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