3 Informed Action

“History, despite its wrenching pain, cannot be unlived, but if faced with courage, need not be lived again.”

Maya Angelou

What lessons have you learned about refugees from the Holocaust that apply to the refugee crisis today?

What is the responsibility of individuals, groups and governments to address human rights issues today?

There are many opportunities for students to become advocates on behalf of those who are victims of genocide today. Here are a few websites that encourage thoughtful approach to confronting genocide today

1. The Reckoning: Understanding the International Criminal Court - Facing History Project
2. This site helps students to “explore judgment, justice, and the International Criminal Court with these resources centered on the documentary film "The Reckoning." Students can screen the film for their school community and organize courageous conversations about genocide and human rights abuses today.
3. Students can consult the following sites for help in organizing a school wide campaign to raise awareness, build capacity for and advocate for victims of genocide and other human rights abuses:
   • End Genocide website
   • Confronting Genocide:Case Studies-USHMM Holocaust Museum
   • Ripples of Genocide: Journey Through the Eastern Congo
4. Organize a photo exhibit highlighting the importance of upstanding behavior in the school and community;
5. Interview a local survivor from conflict zones today and record interviews in local community library or school library;
6. Have students read the Nicholas Kristof article: Would You Hide A Jew From the Nazis? Then have students organize a panel discussion about upstanding behavior, including organizations that advocate for refugees of war and genocide today;
7. Host a film night to view Hotel Rwanda, Ghost of Rwanda documentary or Defying Genocide or another film about recent examples of genocide in the world. Invite a speaker to address issues in the film. Raise money to support the work of groups in conflict zones.
8. Work with an NGO like Human Rights Watch or Amnesty International USA that supports human rights advocacy. Students can participate in a variety of ways, including: letter writing campaigns, writing blog posts, creating a website to educate others, making a video for local TV stations, writing a play, organizing a panel of experts to discuss human rights issues in their community, and holding a community forum on human rights issues today.
9. Confronting Injustice in Your Local Community Students access the website Not In Our Town for activities and suggestions to organize courageous conversations and action to confront hate and bullying behavior in their school and local community.
10. Students can access films to encourage students, parents and other community members to address local issues and use social media to educate and advocate for a local community issue that addresses injustice.
11. The Syrian Refugee Crisis Have students view three videos on the Syrian refugee crisis:
    • The European Refugee Crisis and Syria Explained(video)
    • Syria's Lost Generation USHMM(video)
    • Why Teaching About Syria Matters(teacher reference)
    • Frontline: Children of Syria: http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/frontline/film/children-of-syria/
12. Students in groups will draw anchor charts about the Syrian refugee crisis. Charts should include as much info about the crisis today as well as compare the experiences of the refugees from the Holocaust to the refugees today. What are the similarities between the two time periods? What are the differences?
13. Students in groups then research the campaigns to help Syrian refugees. Here are a few of the sites that have resources and some activities for students:
    • I am Syria
    • Bearing Witness-USHMM (report on Syria)
    • Unicef Syrian Crisis
    • Refugee Support Toolkit
14. Students then take the information from their anchor charts and create a PSA about the Syrian crisis today to be shared with the school and wider community.
15. Coordinate a panel discussion about the refugee crisis today
16. Write opinion editorials to the local newspaper about the US government’s response to the refugee crisis
17. Write a play about the plight of refugees today
18. Write a poem about what it is like to be a child refugee
19. Write a letter to a member of Congress or the President advocating for Syrian refugees
20. Tell the story of a refugee family in your community
21. Day of Remembrance Plan a Day of Remembrance for your classroom, other 11th and 12th graders, your school, and/or your community. What would you remember and why?
22. Put on the Day of Remembrance in late April or early May once you know the date (see https://www.ushmm.org/remember/days-of-remembrance/remembrance-day-calendar
23. See this link for other suggestions on how to plan events: https://www.ushmm.org/remember/days-of-remembrance/organizing-a-remembrance-event
24. Students as Historians
25. What are the stories of the Holocaust that have not been told? Are there more stories to tell? More information to share with the public? Could these stories challenge our assumptions about what America knew about the Holocaust? Could these stories help us to affirm the humanity of others? How did your hometown cover these events?
26. Students will become citizen journalists and participate in History Unfolded: US Newspapers and the Holocaust. Students will research local newspapers for coverage of the Holocaust and then archive this research at the US Holocaust Memorial Museum. This lesson takes 2-3 class periods.
27. Students as Journalists (Journalism in a Digital Age)
28. Students hold a forum of local journalists (print, TV or online) to discuss the following:
29. How do you tell a story that gets people to care about an issue?
30. How can words and images be used to inspire people to take action to help others?
31. How can news media be used as a tool for civic participation and social action?
32. What are the challenges of using images and film in advocacy?
33. Why is it important to have a variety of sources to tell a story?
34. How can citizens get involved in telling and remembering stories?
35. Do you think readers and viewers prefer stories that reinforce people's’ humanity or stories that tell the story of human’s inhumanity to others?
36. Students as Photographers- (The Aftermath Project Lesson Plans)
37. Have students explore how photojournalists document the challenges of rebuilding communities after conflict. Students an create a photo exhibit focused on the Aftermath Project. This project is also linked to the Facing History site Facing History: War is Only Half the Story. This idea was launched by a photojournalist and filmmaker Sara Terry. Students have access to the photographs of journalists who travel to war torn nations to document how individuals and communities rebuild after the conflict. Students can use these stories and photos to provoke their school and local community to educate and advocate for victims of war and genocide.