Black lives matter

https://abcnews.go.com/US/police-officers-stood-protesters-outraged-george-floyds-death/story?id=70984369&cid=social_twitter_abcn

This week in America there have been angry protests on the streets of many cities. The protests follow a tragic event where a man, George Floyd, died after being arrested by police in Minneapolis, Minnesota. George was a black man and a police officer, who is white, has been charged with his murder.

Protesters say this incident shows that black people are not treated in the same way as white people. They say that black people are treated differently to white people by the police and they want to see that black lives matter as much as the lives of white people. Many people hold up signs in the protests that say, "Black Lives Matter". The protests have spread across America; every night people have been hurt and some have been killed during the protests.

In London and in cities across the world there were large protests in support of "Black lives matter". The top photo is from a march in London.

On some of the protests in America, police joined protesters to show their support. The second photo shows a police chief in Texas walking arm in arm with a woman during a "justice for George Floyd" event.

Yolanda Deaver, the person who organised the demonstration, said; "I know that all cops aren't bad so once I heard that they wanted to get involved, I was like, 'sure lets go for it. We can stand in solidarity.'" Yolanda said it was really moving to have officers as well as lawmakers standing behind her with shared beliefs about injustice."

In Camden New Jersey, police Chief Joseph Wysocki joined protesters in support of George. He said, "It's a community and we're part of a community. It's not us policing the city, it's us together."

Over the weekend photos of police officers walking with demonstrators in California, Santa Cruz, Norfolk, Virginia spread across social media.

Former US President Barak Obama talked about violence and racism in American history and said, "Too often some of that violence has come form folks who were supposed to be serving and protecting you. I want you to know that you matter, I want you to know that your lives matter, your dreams matter."

what is happening in the picture
where it is
what is the story?

explain the picture

- what is racism?
- why are some people racist? (because some people don't understand yet about equality; they weren't lucky enough to go to a school like ours where there are no outsiders because everyone is different and everyone is welcome. Some people think we are not equal and that some people should not be made welcome; they think we should all be the same - same skin, same religion, same kind of person. It's the opposite to us; we know that it's great to have different skin, different religion and be different people because that is what makes our school a great place to be. But not everyone agrees or understands yet)
- can people change their racist beliefs? (yes, anyone can change their ideas. Ideas change through talking, meeting new people and listening to each other)
- why do you think people in these protests are so angry?
- is saying "Black lives matter" racist? (No, because it's true! Black lives do matter. In our school we believe black lives matter- if you are black, you belong here. That's why we say there are no outsiders here- everyone belongs here!)
- what makes someone feel they don't matter?
- Why don't we just say "All lives matter"? Because all people are not being targeted and all people do not suffer racism regularly. If one house is on fire in a street, do all houses need to be sprayed with water? You only spray the house that is on fire - that house is the house that matters right now because that house is on fire. When black people are being targeted, we need to make sure that everyone knows black people matter.
Semaj Mitchell explained on twitter: "If you break your arm and go to the doctor, and your doctor says, "All your bones matter, not just your arm," you gonna look at them stupid because yes, all your bones matter, but it's your arm needs attention. Black Lives Matter is that arm, saying all lives matter is redundant"
If someone feels they do not matter, we need to make sure they know they do matter. The question is, how do we do that together? What can we do in our school to show that black people matter?)
- there is a sign in the top photo saying, "Asians for black lives matter" what does that mean?
- why are some police in America joining the protesters? There are white people and black people on the demonstrations all over the world; what does that show us about people around the world today?
- how can we help the situation in America today? (we can help to stop racism in the future by making sure everyone knows in our school that we are different and we like it that way - we have different skin and we are friends; we make sure everyone is treated equally here.)
- what can you do if you hear someone making a racist comment or treating someone differently because of their skin? (we always talk to people who don't understand; anyone can change their mind. Remind the person about our brilliant school, about how we are all different and we get along)
- why is this story about No Outsiders?

Have a moment of silence to remember George Floyd and all those who have suffered because of racist behaviour. Ask children to think about what they will do today and tomorrow to end racism.

No Outsiders in our school: Everyone different, everyone welcome by Andrew Moffat