Teaching our children about racial and religious tolerance Sep 18 '01    Write an essay on this topic. Tweet The Bottom Line Teach our children - racial and religious intolerance has no place in our great nation. In the aftermath of the horrendous terrorist attacks, we are all trying to help in any way that we can. We are giving money, donating blood, putting up our American flags to show our support. But there’s one thing we can all do to help our nation avert another possible huge disaster – to prevent a further division based on religious and racial lines. Disturbing news about racial and religious intolerance We are already reading about media reports about Arab-Americans being harassed and Muslim mosques are being targeted for attack. In one of the really sad stories, a Sikh in Mesa, Arizona was killed in a suspected hate crime incident. He was probably mistaken to be Muslim because he wore a turban and had a beard. These people are Americans too. They grieve just like all of us in face of such monstrous atrocities. It saddens me to read about someone who is afraid to walk out of his home to go to work because he is dark-skinned. No one should ever be attacked just because they belong to a particular religious group or racial group. If we allow this to take place, how different are we from those terrorists who target innocent Americans only because they are Americans? During a sad chapter in our history, we had sent Japanese-Americans to internment camps during the Second World War and this type of attitude cannot and should not happen again. What is scary is that a lot of these incidents are happening in schools where children of Middle Eastern descent or Muslim faith are being taunted by their fellow students. Our children do not need to grow up with hatred and should learn to be tolerant of people of religious faiths and cultures different from their own. PLEASE, if you are a parent or responsible for a child, take the time to discuss this important matter with him or her: 1. Talk to your children about the issue. If you are watching television with them and such reports come up, use the opportunity to discuss why harassment is inappropriate and in particular if they start talking about how bad all Arabs are or Muslims, even it is just a passing comment. Many of you may think that your children is too young and is immune. Only you as parent or guardian can determine this. But sometimes you will be surprised at how much our children know and pick up from their peers who may not have parents or guardians that are as level-headed as you. 2. If your children have friends who are of Muslim faith or of Middle Eastern descent, ask your children how they are doing. It may be a good way to broach the topic. And if your children usually invite them to your home to play, don't break the routine. It's important to show them (your children and their friends) that nothing has changed. 3. Encourage your children to learn about other cultures and religious faiths. Take them to the public library where you can find many books for youngsters of all ages about different countries and religions. Check them out and read them with your children. Knowledge is power and the best weapon against bigotry. The more one learns about people of other cultures and/or faiths, the more one realizes that there are more similarities than differences. 4. Lead by example Be careful about the comments you make about people of different religious faiths and cultures, especially during this sensitive time. Children pick up on subtle nuances and sometimes may not fully comprehend the context in which we make our comments and may misunderstand them. In Closing The schools may be addressing this, but as parents or mentors, we have the responsibility too. It may be a cliche, but our children is the future of our nation and the last thing we need a generation growing up divided along race and religious faith. Racial and religious tolerance is something that is important at all times, but particular now when our nation needs to unite.

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