Show Racism the Red Card – Creative Competition 2016
Aston Village Educate together National School
Drogheda, Co. Louth
We are delighted to submit our entry for the creative competition. We thoroughly enjoyed watching and responding to the DVD, which sparked rich reflection and lively discussion.
As an Educate Together School, the concept behind ‘Show Racism the Red Card’ is fundamental to our ethos and our day to day activities. Because majority of our students, of both national and non-national descent, have grown up and been educated from early childhood in an environment rich with a variety of race, colour and creed, difference is the norm; it is celebrated. Racism exsts but is is not particularly prevalent in our daily lives.
However, racism continues to be a reality in society and many of our children will experience it and all will witness it. The SRTRD initiative has provided us with an invaluable opportunity to engage with the concern, explore our own feelings and attitudes and prepare to manage our responses to incidents we may experience.
As we began to trade ideas about a potential competition entry, one of our students exclaimed casually; “but, Mark, sure that’s what we do anyway…we show racism the Red Card every day!”- and so our inspiration was sparked and our project begun.
As a group, the girls and boys of Aston Village ETNS 5th, decided to show how they show racism the red card every day by using themselves, with their bodies entwined in non-discriminatory friendship, to promote the message in simple, but compelling terms.
In planning, organising, undertaking and editing their visual submission, the children engaged even more closely than usually, overcame any residual anxiety that may have lain dormant and embraced the concept as they embraced each other.
We hope you enjoy our submission. Thank you for taking the time to motivate us for this invaluable social exercise.
Kind regards,
Mark Dunne (Teacher), Dorcas, Jill, Katie, Isac, Igor, Aaron, Madina, Daniels, Oliwia, Auguste, Darragh, Malanija, Cecilia, Whitney, Almira, Gabriella, Adam, Jamie, Miriam, Dakota, Roberts, Jude, Ahmed, Meabi, Anton, Alans, India, Róza, Weronika