As I explained the pyramid of hate, I used real plastic cups and built a tower as I told students about me being prejudice toward people with brown hair.

Level 1: I hear a rumor that people with brown hair are dumb. I share that rumor with my friends.

Level 2: I laugh at people with brown hair when they raise their hand in class. I make jokes out loud about how dumb they are.

Level 3: I refuse to work in a group if any of the other participants have brown hair. They are dumb and it would negatively reflect my grade.

Level 4: Actually, people with brown hair are so dumb that they shouldn't get an education at all. I'm going to take away the classroom materials of everyone with brown hair. I'm going to rip up their notebooks, hide their Chromebook chargers, and break all of their writing utensils in half.

Level 5: People with brown hair are the dumbest people on Earth they actually shouldn't even be here. I'm going to physically hurt every single person with brown hair.

After creating my pyramid, I asked the students to think about how pyramids have to be built. I held a single cup near the top of the pyramid and asked if I can start building there. I dropped the cup to show that pyramids need a base. At the bottom/base of the Pyramid of Hate is the "silly" jokes and rumors that even they make sometimes. 

At the end of the whole-class discussion, I asked one person to come up to the front of the class.

I asked the class "If we want to stop the build up of hate before it gets to these horrific levels, like genocide,  where do we need to stop? In what level do we need to stop what we're doing and speak up?"

After the students agreed that the first level (jokes and rumors) was the best place to stop, I asked the student to knock down the pyramid by hitting only the first row.

The students witnessed the pyramid completely crumble and fall into pieces. I emphasized the fact that a pyramid cannot be built up if there is no foundation!

Don't give hate a foundation!