Reckoning with Racial Justice in the U.S.
TOPIC:
Civil & Political Rights
Genocide & Mass Atrocity
Racism & Xenophobia
GRADE LEVEL:
12
Collage with three images: Paul Robeson submits We Charge Genocide to the Un secretariat in new york; two images of protestors in minnesota, each featuring a young person holding a sign reading “I Can’t breathe.” Text above reads “we charge genocide.”
In December 1951, a Detroit-based civil rights organization, the Civil Rights Congress, delivered an historic petition to the United Nations, charging the United States with genocide.
In this activity, students examine the petition, We Charge Genocide: The Historic Petition to the United Nations for Relief from a Crime of the United States Government Against the Negro People. Through a close reading of the petition and a class discussion, students will draw connections from the past to current headlines about racial violence and police brutality in the United States.