Confronting Discrimination and Prejudice

Encourage students to explore biases and stereotypes with this group of ABC News segments. Each scenario puts actors into exchanges with unwitting bystanders, generating a wide range of responses—from overt hostility towards other races and cultures to acts of genuine compassion. Scenes include a bakery clerk's refusal to serve a Muslim woman wearing a headscarf; cruelty towards an overweight woman seated on a boardwalk; a very public argument that threatens to become violent; and a purse-snatching in a crowded square, after which witnesses are asked to view a suspect lineup. Repeating the two latter situations, producers achieve varying reactions among onlookers by switching the races of the actors. (37 minutes)